Rusty, a rust colored large dog, stared at me. As mentioned above, an appositive can be a noun, phrase or a clause. Anderson.)Īppositives are usually offset with commas, brackets, or dashes. (In this example, the appositive is the principal of my school.

Anderson, the principal of my school, went abroad. (In this example, the appositive is Paul. An appositive is a noun, pronoun, noun phrase or noun clause which sits next to another noun to rename or describe it. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Before looking at the term appositive phrase, let us first understand the meaning of the term appositive. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. The linguistic structure of Modern English, 2nd edn. The use of pronouns as appositives is more frequent in speech than in writing.īrinton, Laurel J. I am looking for a chef, anyone who can cook.The burglar, someone conniving, stole it.Twelve of the cakes, these, go to the Obi-wan party.The file, that, is what you need to finish the project.A man brought a package for the team leader, you.The winners are these two cakes, hers and his.Those children, him and her, are mine.Examples of pronouns as appositives include the following: Although nouns and noun phrases most often perform the function, pronouns can also function as appositives.

In grammar, an appositive is a word, phrase, or clause that supports another word, phrase, or clause by describing or modifying the other word, phrase, or clause. A noun phrase is a phrase that consists of a noun including a pronoun plus any modifiers, complements, or determiners. Pronouns are a subcategory of nouns that take the place of nouns, noun phrases, noun clauses, and other grammatical forms. The notional definition of a noun is a word that names a person, place, thing, or idea.

What is an appositive