Appositives & Modifiers

​Appositives

& Modifiers

​

​APPOSITIVES

• An appositive is a noun or noun phrase placed beside another noun or noun phrase in a sentence​ to explain it/describe it.

​

• WHO

• WHAT

• WHERE

• WHEN

• WHY

• HOW

​Appositives Answer...

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​Using Appositives to Add Information

• Instead of writing multiple choppy sentences about a topic, appositives can be used to combine thoughts and add information into the same sentence. ​

​Using Logic in Appositives

• A common error that young writers make is lack of sentence logic.

• Sentences may be written correctly, but the message they send is not necessary, relevant, or logical.

• We will strive in this unit to write logically by writing appositives with purpose!

​Varying Sentence Structure with Appositives

• Appositives do not need to be right at the beginning of sentences! Instead, you can put them anywhere in the sentence to change up your sentence structure! Just watch out for punctuation!

​HINT: Noun Markers in Appositives

• Appositives *usually start with words called noun markers.

• These are signal words that begin the noun phrase!

MISPLACED MODIFIERS

• In misplaced or dangling modifiers, the phrase that describes/modifies a noun is in the wrong place!

• It is considered "misplaced" because the modifier is next to a noun that it is not describing, which does not make sense!

• Usually, the only way to fix a misplaced modifier is to completely rewrite the sentence.

HINT: Sometimes, a helpful way to rewrite a sentence with a misplaced modifier is to use an appositive!

​Correct the following misplaced/dangling modifiers on your notes!