Writing Book 4 · Lesson 20

Appositive

An appositive renames a noun right after it, between commas.

What it is

An appositive is a noun phrase that renames the noun beside it, set off by commas. It lets you tell your reader who someone is without stopping to write a whole second sentence about them. Test it by covering the commas and what is between them — the sentence must still be complete.

Watch it built

1
A sentence, and a fact about its subject.
Ibn Sina wrote on medicine. He was a physician and scholar.
2
Take the second sentence and keep only the naming part.
a physician and scholar
3
Drop it in beside the noun, inside two commas.
Ibn Sina, a physician and scholar, wrote on medicine.

One more

Al-Khwarizmi shaped algebra. He was a mathematician.
↓
Al-Khwarizmi, a mathematician, shaped algebra.
Remember
Rename the noun beside it, inside two commas.
Ask yourself: “Could I lift the middle part out and still have a sentence?”

Remember

Name it, then explain it, in one sentence.

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