• Appositives

An appositive provides a supplementary explanation

of another sentence element.

Ali, the salesman, is my friend.

Frankfurt, the capitol, is a beautiful city.Ali and Frankfurt are the antecedents of the appositives.

Forms of the appositive

-usually the appositive and the antecedent are nouns

The student, Ahmad, came late.- the appositive and the antecedent may differ in form

He discovered a new pastime, skiing. (noun, gerund)

You, the customer, should pay less. (pronoun, noun)

- it functions as a noun

• Function of the appositive

1. Dual function (modifier and substantive)

- it modifies the antecedent and gives specific information:

My car, jeep, is a good car.

- it functions as a substantive and can substitute the

antecedent: jeep is a good car.

Pure modifiers cannot substitute the antecedent noun as in:

Ali, nervous, went home.

2. Restrictive appositive

the appositive provides necessary information for the proper

identification of the noun: My son Ahmad won the prize.

3. Non- Restrictive appositive

The appositive adds unnecessary information that set off by

commas: My son, Ahmad, won the prize.- if the non-restrictive appositive is parenthetical اعتراضية جملة

then it is set off by parentheses: The boy- who hit me apologized. - if the non-restrictive appos. is at the end, it may be set off

by a dash

or a colon: We beat the team- the Tigers.- if the non-restrictive appos. contains commas, it is set off

by dashes

or parentheses: The three students- Ali, Ahmad, and Hamad,

finished the job.

Patterns

- S-Appos.- V- O- Appos.

(non-restrictive) (non-restrictive)

Mod.- Noun

Ali, a good loser, congratulated Ahmad, the winner.- mod.- S - Appos.- V- O

(restrictive)

My friend Ali visited me.

-S- V- Mod - O - Compound Appos(Noun and Noun)

He found two clues- a gun and a knife.

Introductory words (or, such as, specifically, that is, for example, namely, e.g)

- non-restrictive appos. Introduced by these words is set off by

commas:

Ali, or the winner, took the prize.

Arab countries, such as Egypt and Syria, have rich resources

-if the appositive has internal commas, it is set off by dashes

or commas: Sports- such as jogging, swimming, and soccer

requires high physical fitness.