1. What are Appositives?

Appositives are nouns or noun phrases that act as adjectives, and describe nouns.
Example: Rita, a good friend of mine, works as a police officer.

2. What are Noun Phrases?

Noun phrases may contain other parts of speech besides nouns.
They may have:
• adjectives
• articles, such as the, a, or an
• the coordinating conjunction, and
• prepositional phrases

Here are noun phrases.
What parts of speech do you see in these noun phrases?

an interesting story, a good friend of mine, a wonderful city,
the capital of Tibet, Jupiter and Saturn, the biggest city in the world,
an electrical contractor, my favorite relative

3. Find the Appositives
(Also, find the noun phrases and parts of speech in these appositives.
Notice how appositives describe nouns.)

1. Rita, a good friend of mine, works as a police officer.

2. Houston, my home town, is a wonderful city.

3. The insect, an ugly cockroach with hairy legs, is crawling across the kitchen table.

4. The altitude of Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, is over 12,000 feet.

5. My favorite relative, Joan, is coming to visit next week.

6. My son, an honor student, is at the top of his class.

7. The car, a red Toyota, was badly damaged.

8. I enjoy my hobby, stamp collecting.

9. On the largest planets, Jupiter and Saturn, there is no water.

10. The sculptor, Michelangelo, will be remembered for his beautiful art.

11. Did you read Island of the Blue Dolphins, an interesting story, in fourth grade?

12. There goes the electrical contractor, Grant Long.

13. Mexico City, the largest city in the world, has many interesting archaeological sites.

Remember: If an appositive comes in the middle of the sentence, there are two commas.
Example: We played the Cougars, the soccer team from San Anselmo, on Sunday.

If an appositive comes at the end of a sentence, there is only one comma.
Example: We played the Cougars, the soccer team from San Anselmo.

4. Combining Sentences to Make Appositives
Sometimes, you can combine two short related sentences, using an appositive.
Now, you try to say the appositives.

1. Rita is a good friend of mine.
Rita works as a police officer.

2. Houston is my home town.
Houston is a wonderful city.

3. The insect is an ugly cockroach with hairy legs
The insect is crawling across the kitchen table.

4. The altitude of Lhasa is over 12,000 feet.
Lhasa is the capital of Tibet.

5. My favorite relative is Joan.
Joan is coming to visit next week.

6. My son is an honor student.
My son is at the top of his class.

7. The car was badly damaged.
The car is a red Toyota.

8. I enjoy my hobby.
My hobby is stamp collecting.

9. On the largest planets there is no water.
Jupiter and Saturn are the largest planets.

10. The sculptor will be remembered for his contributions to art.
The sculptor is Michelangelo.

11. Did you read Island of the Blue Dolphins in fourth grade?
Island of the Blue Dolphins is an interesting story.

12. There goes the electrical contractor.
Grant Long is an electrical contractor.

13. Mexico City is the biggest city in the world.
Mexico City has many interesting archaeological sites.