APPOSITIVE PHRASE

qxz9524

APPOSITIVE PHRASE
An appositive is a re-naming or amplification of a word that immediately precedes it. (An appositive, then is the opposite of an oppositive.) Frequently another kind of phrase will serve in apposition.
•    My favorite teacher, a fine chess player in her own right, has won several state-level tournaments. [Noun phrase as appositive]
•    The best exercise, walking briskly, is also the least expensive. [Gerund phrase as appositive]
•    Tashonda's goal in life, to become an occupational therapist, is within her grasp this year, at last. [Infinitive phrase as appositive]
Use a comma to set off parenthetical elements, as in "The Founders Bridge, which spans the Connecticut River, is falling down." By "parenthetical element," we mean a part of a sentence that can be removed without changing the essential meaning of that sentence. The parenthetical element is sometimes called "added information." This is the most difficult rule in punctuation because it is sometimes unclear what is "added" or "parenthetical" and what is essential to the meaning of a sentence.
Appositives are almost always treated as parenthetical elements.
•    Calhoun's ambition, to become a goalie in professional soccer, is within his reach.
•    Eleanor, his wife of thirty years, suddenly decided to open her own business.
Sometimes the appositive and the word it identifies are so closely related that the comma can be omitted, as in "His wife Eleanor suddenly decided to open her own business." We could argue that the name "Eleanor" is not essential to the meaning of the sentence (assuming he has only one wife), and that would suggest that we can put commas both before and after the name (and that would, indeed, be correct). But "his wife" and "Eleanor" are so close that we can regard the entire phrase as one unit and leave out the commas. With the phrase turned around, however, we have a more definite parenthetical element and the commas are necessary: "Eleanor, his wife, suddenly decided to open her own business." Consider, also, the difference between "College President Ira Rubenzahl voted to rescind the withdrawal policy" (in which we need the name "Ira Rubenzahl" or the sentence doesn't make sense) and "Ira Rubenzahl, the college president, voted to rescind the withdrawal policy" (in which the sentence makes sense without his title, the appositive, and we treat the appositive as a parenthetical element, with a pair of commas).

旺财财

看过，定了谢谢亲~~~~

yunglinchang

qxz9524 发表于 2003-8-30 13:40
APPOSITIVE PHRASEAn appositive is a re-naming or amplification of a word that immediately precedes i ...

Mark一下！