Lesson 128

Parts of the Sentence - Appositives

An appositive is a word or group of words that identifies or renames the nounA noun is a word that names a person, place, thing, or idea. Examples: man, city, book, and courage.  Source: Lesson 16 or pronounA pronoun is a word that replaces a noun or a group of words used as a noun.
Source: Lesson 21 that it follows.  It is set off by commas unless closely tied to the word that it identifies or renames. ("Closely tied" means that it is needed to identify the word.)

Appositives should not be confused with predicate nominativesA predicate nominative or predicate noun completes a linking verb and renames the subject. It is a complement or completer because it completes the verb. Predicate nominatives complete only linking verbs.
Source: Lesson 102.  A verb will separate the subject from the predicate nominative.  An appositive can follow any noun or pronoun including the subjectThe subject tells who or what about the verb.  Source: Lesson 91, direct objectA direct object receives the action performed by the subject. The verb used with a direct object is always an action verb. Another way of saying it is that the subject does the verb to the direct object.
Source: Lesson 108, or predicate nominative.

Examples:
My son Carl is a medical technician. (no commas)
Badger, our dog with a missing leg, has a love for cats. (commas needed)

 
 
 

Appositives may be compound.

Example:
The two children, Wendy and Sam, are excellent students.

Instructions: Identify the appositives in the following sentences and tell whether they are appositives to subjects, direct objects, or predicate nominatives.

1. Our leading scorer is Michael, the center and captain of the team.

2. These two students, Kay and Eric, are new to our school.

3. The doctor helped two patients, the boy with the broken leg and the girl with a burned arm.

4. Our neighbors, the Smiths and the Fehers, are moving next week.

5. James loves two games, checkers and chess.