An appositive phrase is a group of words that gives more information about a noun. The appositive comes right after the noun that it is describing. Look at this example:
Bob, my next door neighbor, loaned me his mower.
The phrase my next door neighbor is an appositive phrase. These words tell us more about Bob.
We could write the sentence like this: Bob loaned me his mower.
This sentence makes sense just the way it is, but we might wonder – Who is Bob?
By adding the appositive phrase my next door neighbor, we answer that question. The appositive phrase gives us more information about the noun Bob.
Here are more sentences with an appositive phrase:
Jean, my best friend, went with me to the movies.
Dr. Jones, my foot doctor, gave me medicine for the bumps on my foot.
Mrs. Smith, my biology teacher, gave us a reading assignment for tonight.
In each of these sentences, the appositive phrase is a group of words that comes right after a noun and gives us more information about that noun.
my best friend describes Jean.
my foot doctor describes Dr. Jones.
my biology teacher describes Mrs. Smith.
We put a comma before and after the appositive phrase to show that we could lift those describing words out of the sentence, and the sentence would still make sense. Here are the sentences without an appositive phrase.
Jean went with me to the movies.
Dr. Jones gave me medicine for the bumps on my feet
Mrs. Smith gave us a reading assignment for tonight.
Just remember that an appositive phrase adds more information.
Use an appositive phrase to add more information about the noun that comes before it. Be sure to put a comma before and after an appositive phrase.
▶It’s your turn. Put two commas into this sentence: Dan the school janitor emptied all the trashcans. Did you find the appositive phrase in here? Did you put a comma before the phrase and after the phrase? Good for you!