ELISA ENGLISH's Blog 英語園地

Appositive - 同位語

An appositive is a noun, noun phrase, or noun clause which follows immediately right after a noun or pronoun and describes or renames it.

Appositives are often separated by commas if the sentence is clear and complete.

如果句子明確完整,通常以逗點分隔.

If it is essential information, not clear enough without an appositive, do not separate it with commas. 

Example (blue – noun or pronoun, pink – appositive):

1.        My uncle Charlie is coming to see us next week. (My uncle is coming to see us next week.  If we place a comma here, we may miss out the essential information that the uncle who will be visiting us is Charlie.)

2.      Charlie, my uncle, is coming to see us next week.

3.      My husband, a race-car enthusiast, has no interest in Indy Car Racing.  His favorite is F-1.

4.      The mother of two and the famous author of all century, Margaret Luis, just passed away.