Transcript Rule: Use commas to set off appositives

• An appositives is a noun or pronoun that follows
another noun or pronoun to identify or explain it.
Sentences with one word appositives do not
need commas.
Ex. My cousin Jack
The writer William Shakespeare
• An appositive phrase is made up of the
appositive and its modifiers
Ex. My neighbor, Dr. Panda, got her degree in
biology, the scientific study of life.
• Occasionally the appositive phrase
precedes the noun or pronoun
• An appositive phrase :
 Renames the noun or pronoun
 Has no subject or verb
 Can be removed from a sentence still leaving it
intact
 Can appear anywhere in a sentence
• My cousin Betty is a wonderful musician.
There are no commas because Betty is a
one word appositive
Wrong: An accomplished painter Miss.
Micro entered her work in all the top notch
art shops.
Right: An accomplished painter, Miss.
Micro entered her work in all the top notch
art shops.
• Wrong: Romeo and Juliet a play about
two young lovers was written by William
Shakespeare a talented writer in the
Elizabethan Era.
• Right: Romeo and Juliet, a play about
two young lovers, was written by William
Shakespeare, a talented writer in the
Elizabethan Era.
Practice: On a separate sheet of paper write (1) the word
preceding the appositive if (if any), (2) the appositive or
appositive phrase, and (3) the word following the
appositive or the appositive phrase (if any)
1.Six Flags an amusement park with locations all over
the U.S. is my favorite place to go.
2.Hebert Howdy a carnie working at Six Flags has no
hair and only one tooth.
3. Bobo the really funny clown can make all sorts of
balloon animals.
1. Flags, an amusement park
with locations all over the, is
2. Howdy, a carnie working at
Six Flags, has
3. Bobo, the really funny clown,
can
• www.mantanalife.com/writing/Comma_Rules.html - a
helpful websites explaining all the commas rules plus
good examples
• www.writing.ucsb.edu/faculty/behrens/app.htm - this
website explains all about appositives and has exercises
to practice using them
• www.grammarbytes.com – a great website that teaches
you about commas then gives you different exercises to
practice with
• www.sixflags.com