Appositive

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In grammar, an appositive is a noun phrase that renames or describes another noun phrase, with no word interposed between the two phrases. A non-restrictive appositive is surrounded by commas, but a restrictive appositive is crucial to restricting the scope of the particular noun and is not offset by commas. <ref name=WritingPU>

    "Commas - Some Common Problems" (usage of commas), Princeton Writing Program,
    Princeton University, 1999, Princeton.edu/sites/writing webpage:
    [web.princeton.edu/sites/writing/Writing_Center/handouts/html/commas.htm PU-commas].

</ref>

For example, Alice in "Bill's friend, Alice,…" is an appositive noun phrase; Alice in "Bill's friend, whose name is Alice,…" is not an appositive but, rather, in a restrictive clause. Note that there are syntactic and semantic aspects to this definition. One way to identify an appositive, from the semantic perspective, is to ask the questions:

Could this phrase replace the word next to it?
Does this phrase make the word next to it all but unnecessary?

Many appositives are non-restrictive. They are not essential to the meaning of their sentence and must be preceded or set off by commas.<ref name=WritingPU/> The following sentence uses a non-restrictive appositive: Oliver Sacks, writer and neurologist, does not use appositive phrases.<ref name=WritingPU/>

1 Examples
2 See also
3 Notes
4 External links

[edit] Examples

In the following examples, appositives and appositive phrases are identified by italics:

An appositive, a grammatically incomplete noun phrase, is generally set off by commas, a reader-friendly invention.
Alexander the Great, the Macedonian conqueror of Persia, was one of the most successful military commanders of the ancient world.
Bill's friend Alice adored the famous singer Dean Martin.
Bill brought his friend along to the famous singer's wedding. Bill's friend, Alice, adored Dean Martin, the famous singer.

Appositives are either restrictive, in which case they are essential to the meaning of the sentence, or non-restrictive, in which case they are not. The appositives in the third example above are restrictive, as it is assumed that Bill has more than one friend, and there is more than one famous singer (compare restrictive clause). Restrictive appositives do not require commas. The appositives in example #4 are non-restrictive, since Bill's friend and the famous singer have already been mentioned individually.