SparkNotes Shopping Cart  |     |  Checkout
Brought to you by Barnes and Noble
Ultimate Style. The Rules of Writing. Real Writers Need Rules.
Parts of Speech

 
Appositives
An appositive phrase comes after a noun and reidentifies it.
• The writer Donna Tartt is short and dark-haired.
Donna Tartt is an appositive phrase that renames the writer.
• I dedicate this song to Matthew Blanchard, my brother and best friend.
My brother and best friend is an appositive phrase that renames Matthew Blanchard.
Restrictive Appositives
Appositives that add pertinent new information are called restrictive. In The writer Donna Tartt is short and dark-haired, the appositive phrase Donna Tartt is restrictive: it restricts the field of all possible writers to the writer Donna Tartt.
Restrictive appositives should not be set off by commas from the rest of the sentence.
• The vampire slayer Buffy is always well groomed.
Nonrestrictive Appositives
Appositives that add no necessary new information are called nonrestrictive. In I dedicate this song to Matthew Blanchard, my brother and best friend, the information added by the appositive phrase my brother and best friend is not necessary to understanding the sentence; the name Matthew Blanchard is identification enough. The appositive phrase in this sentence is nonrestrictive.
Nonrestrictive appositives should be set off by commas from the rest of the sentence.
• I listen to my favorite song, “Street Spirit,” at least seven times a day.

Commas or no commas? Take a look at the main subject of the sentence. Is there only one of its kind? Then you need to set off the appositive phrase with commas. Otherwise, you don’t.

For example, in My mother Ethel hoed the backyard, the main subject is my mother. Is my mother the only one of its kind? Since, yes, the speaker most likely has only one mother, use commas: My mother, Ethel, hoed the backyard. The appositive phrase Ethel is nonrestrictive; it elaborates rather than identifying.On the other hand, consider My friend Ginger speaks Esperanto. The main subject is my friend; since the speaker is likely to have more than one friend, no commas are necessary. The appositive phrase Ginger is restrictive: it helps identify the friend. Of course, if the speaker is a very lonely person, he might have to say My only friend in the world, Ginger, speaks Esperanto.


 
GO TO : 
Abbreviations Common Errors Formatting Parts of Speech Punctuation Usage
Ultimate Style. The Rules of Writing. Real Writers Need Rules.
Help | Feedback | Make a request | Report an error | Send to a friend
 
Get focused! Design your own program of study for the new SAT.
More...
 
For students sick of scribbling on index cards, SparkNotes English Vocabulary Study Cards are the answer.
More...
 
 
Parts of Speech