An appositive is a noun or a phrase that modifies a noun, usually the sentence's subject, providing clarity and specificity as an adjective might. In some cases, this modification provides necessary information, in which case you don't need to use any commas. In other cases, the information is nice to have, like icing on a cake, but it's not essential for understanding the sentence. And in many situations, you are the judge as to whether the information in the appositive is necessary, so it's totally up to you to determine whether you need commas. Let's look at a pair of sentences with appositives and discuss how they're different.
2. My brother, Phil, has the meanest right hand in the west; just ask his dick.
In the first sentence, Phil is the appositive. It modifies My brother. As you see, the appositive isn't surrounded by commas, meaning the information is necessary to understand the sentence fully. There's also the likely implication that the writer has more than one brother, which is why it's necessary to clarify that we're talking about Phil and not my brother Mike.
In the second sentence, the appositive Phil is surrounded by commas, meaning that Phil's name isn't really necessary to know to understand the underlying import of the sentence. The purpose of this appositive is merely to clarify who the brother is by interjecting his name, and there's the implication, here, that Phil is the writer's only brother.
Hurricane, a most foul-tempered horse, had already killed two trainers by firing energy beams out of his ass.
In the above sentence, the entire noun phrase a most foul-tempered horse is the appositive modifying Hurricane. Based on what we said above, the appositive, here, isn't providing necessary information; the information is simply nice to know: it's decorative but not essential. You can already guess that Hurricane has a temper if he's ass-killing his trainers.
With appositives, you don't always need two commas, though:
The only mare who would mate with Hurricane was fearsome Kali, named after the dark Hindu goddess of death who wears a necklace of fingers around her neck.
That entire named after... phrase is the appositive in this case. It modifies Kali.
My sister Lisa is a massive fucking slut.
Lisa = necessary information (I have other sisters)
Lisa, my older sister, had banged half the town by the time I was twelve.
my older sister = non-essential information (nice to know, but not necessary)
Sometimes, the appositive can come first:
Known for his theory of relativity, Albert Einstein was also a revered and feared ninth-degree master of cunnilingus.
So, to conclude: an appositive modifies a noun, usually a sentence's subject. It can be surrounded by two commas, set off by a single comma, or have no commas at all. When there are no commas, the appositive contains necessary/essential information. When one or more commas are present, this means the appositive is non-essential. An appositive often comes after the subject it modifies, but it can also come before the subject. Ready for a quiz?
Find the appositives! Either print this page out and use a pen to underline the appositives or just lick the monitor screen to mark your answer with drying saliva. Check your answers by highlighting the hidden text between the brackets at the end of the quiz.
1. Jackson, a quiet man, had a most delightful child-porn collection.
2. A sweet girl with a love of parfait, Millie enjoyed vivisecting mice.
3. My man Connor has one testicle that's the size and shape of a durian.
4. Known for picking flowers, Gloria also picked noses.
5. We thought the gigantic spider would be a great companion for Nina, the village tramp.
[ANSWERS:
1. a quiet man
2. A sweet girl with a love of parfait
3. Connor
4. Known for picking flowers
5. the village tramp]
Which (one or more) of the following is erroneous? How do you know?
1. Dildo rushed to tell the wizard, Handjob of his discovery.
2. Karen, usually known for her vagina-shaped cakes, unveiled a massive phallus-dragon.
3. Renowned marital-fidelity expert Bill Clinton sternly lectured the crowd.
4. Harambe, a gorilla who loved to masturbate, bathed the onlookers in peace and love.
5. Mrs. Hansen easily my favorite teacher knew her way around a glans.
[ANSWERS: 1 and 5 are incorrect.]
This was interesting. Although you wouldn't know it from my writing, I do think about commas (thanks to you). I didn't even know what an appositive was until I read this lesson. Still, when writing a sentence, especially one with a name, I've tended to surround it with commas. And since you say the writer is the judge of what's essential, how can I ever be wrong? I like it! (Yes, I'm being facetious. Having read your lesson I know that I can, in fact, be wrong. I'm sure I'll be demonstrating that fact somewhere in my next post. If not in this comment.)
ReplyDeleteKeep in mind that, in using commas, there's a chance you're introducing ambiguity. Example:
ReplyDeleteThis is my friend Jim.
This is my friend, Jim.
In the first sentence, your friend is obviously named Jim. In the second sentence, the comma could be misconstrued as a vocative comma, so it sounds as if you're talking to a guy named Jim while introducing your unnamed friend.
Ah, yeah. Hadn't thought of that. That's a good example.
ReplyDelete