Comma Appositives

Which sentence below is correctly punctuated?

• My sister, the tall one, is about to enter high school.

• My sister the tall one is about to enter high school.

• My sister, the tall one is about to enter high school.

• My sister the tall one, is about to enter high school.

You might have noticed already, but appositives are always surrounded by commas (,). Is the appositive below correct?

The Navajo, a group of codetalkers were useful in the 1940s.

• No, there should be a comma after "codetalkers"

• No, there should be no comma before "a group"

• Yes, the sentence is completely correct.

Answer explanation

This appositive is just missing the second comma at the end of it. It should be...

"The Navajo, a group of codetalkers, were useful in the 1940s."

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

• moving to a different city

• Mr. Riley, our neighbor

• our neighbor

When do you need to use commas with an appositive?

• always

• when the appostitive describes a noun

• when the appositive is essential to the sentence

• when the appostive isn't really necessary and could be removed from the sentence

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

An appositive can be set apart by 1 or 2 commas.

• Yes

• No

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

Appositives are used to give more information about a noun without using a verb. Which one of these phrases COULD be an appositive?

• my youngest brother

• watching TV

• growing up with my friends

• eating after school

Answer explanation

The only option that DIDN'T have a verb in it was "my youngest brother". Using this phrase as an appositive would look like this:

"Emory, my youngest brother, is a freshman."