{"id":56,"date":"2007-09-02T19:11:31","date_gmt":"2007-09-02T19:11:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/?p=56"},"modified":"2021-02-03T17:15:52","modified_gmt":"2021-02-03T23:15:52","slug":"commas-with-appositives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/commas\/commas-with-appositives\/","title":{"rendered":"Commas with Appositives"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The definition of an appositive is <em>a word or word group that defines or further identifies the noun or noun phrase preceding it.<\/em> <\/p>\n<p><strong>Rule:<\/strong> When an appositive is essential to the meaning of the noun it belongs to, don\u2019t use commas. When the noun preceding the appositive provides sufficient identification on its own, use commas around the appositive.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Example:<\/strong> <em>Jorge Torres, our senator, was born in California.<\/em><br \/>\n<strong>Explanation:<\/strong> <em>Our senator<\/em> is an appositive of the proper noun <em>Jorge Torres<\/em>. <em>Our senator<\/em> is surrounded by commas because <em>Jorge Torres<\/em> is a precise identifier.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Example:<\/strong> <em>Our pediatrician, Andr\u00e9 Wilson, was born in California.<\/em><br \/>\n<strong>Explanation:<\/strong> <em>Our pediatrician<\/em> is still a relatively precise identifier so <em>Andr\u00e9 Wilson <\/em>is not considered essential.<br \/>\n<strong><br \/>\nExample:<\/strong> <em>CEO Julie Minsky will be our featured speaker.<\/em><br \/>\n<strong>Explanation:<\/strong> <em>Julie Minsky<\/em> is necessary to help identify <em>CEO<\/em>, so no commas are used.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Example:<\/strong> <em>Julie Minsky, CEO, will be our featured speaker.<\/em><br \/>\n<strong>Explanation:<\/strong> <em>Julie Minsky<\/em> is a precise identifier so the appositive is surrounded by commas.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Example:<\/strong> <em>The girl who received a scholarship is my sister.<\/em><br \/>\n<strong>Explanation:<\/strong> <em>The girl<\/em> by itself is not sufficient information.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Example:<\/strong> <em>My sister, who received a scholarship, will attend Harvard.<\/em><br \/>\n<strong>Explanation:<\/strong> <em>My sister<\/em> is a relatively precise identifier.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Example:<\/strong> <em>My friend Harvey is an animal lover.<\/em><br \/>\n<strong>Explanation:<\/strong> <em>My friend<\/em> is not a precise identifier because one may have numerous friends.<br \/>\n<strong><br \/>\nExample:<\/strong> <em>Harvey, my friend, loves animals.<\/em><br \/>\n<strong>Explanation:<\/strong> <em>Harvey<\/em> is a precise identifier.<br \/>\n<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Pop Quiz<\/strong><br \/>\nAdd commas if needed.<br \/>\n1. Ella my little sister will escort you to your seat.<br \/>\n2. My little sister Ella will escort you to your seat. <strong>Hint:<\/strong> You have two younger sisters.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pop Quiz Answers:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>1. Ella, my little sister, will escort you to your seat.<br \/>\n2. My little sister Ella will escort you to your seat. CORRECT. No commas if you have two (or more) younger sisters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The definition of an appositive is a word or word group that defines or further identifies the noun or noun phrase preceding it. Rule: When an appositive is essential to the meaning of the noun it belongs to, don\u2019t use commas. When the noun preceding the appositive provides sufficient identification on its own, use commas [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commas"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}