Appositives Review

Appositives are special because they can be deleted from a sentence without changing the sentence's meaning. What could be deleted from the sentence below?

My niece, Eleanor, is a big fan of unicorns.

• My niece

• Eleanor

• is a big fan of

• unicorns

Answer explanation

The only word you can delete without changing the meaning of the sentence is "Eleanor." We don't need to know her name to understand the sentence.

My niece is a big fan of unicorns.

Remember the appositive adds detail. If it is essential information,  no commas are needed. Make sure whatever you see as the appositive is the add on not the important information. Which sentence is correctly punctuated below?

•  My mom, a nurse drives a red car.

• My mom, a nurse, drives a red car.

• My mom a nurse drives a red car.

What is the appositive(s) phrase?
Roald Dahl, a famous children's author, wrote many of his books in pencil on yellow legal pads.

• Roald Dahl
• a famous children's author
• wrote many of his books
• yellow legal pads

What is the appositive(s) phrase?
Mr. Riley, our neighbor, is moving to a different city.

• Mr. Riley
• moving to a different city
• Mr. Riley, our neighbor
• our neighbor

What is the appositive(s) phrase?
The car, a silver Honda, had two flat tires.

• The car
• had two flat tires
• The car
• a silver Honda

Choose the appositive in the sentence.
Jada, my sister, is beautiful.

• Jada
• my sister
• beautiful

What is the appositive(s)?
I lost my silver necklace, a present from my mother, at the Carnival.

• I lost my silver necklace
• a present from my mother
• at the Carnival
• I lost my silver

Identify the appositive:

An enormous man with great strength, Henry was able to carry the entire pallet of bricks by himself.

• An enormous man with great strength

• Henry

• the entire pallet of bricks

• by himself

Answer explanation

The sentence starts with Henry, so the information in the introductory phrase tells you more about him, which makes it nonessential and an appositive. I will not put many like this, where the appositive is at the beginning of the sentence on the test, but there will probably be one.

The intruder, a large, inquisitive cockroach with hairy legs, is crawling across the kitchen table.

What does the bold portion describe?

• the cockroach

• the intruder

• the kitchen table

A beautiful German Shepard, Trixie was my favorite dog.

What does the underlined appositive give more information about?

• Trixie

• German Shepards

• Beautiful

• Was