Appositives Practice

What is the appositive(s) phrase? Roald Dahl, a famous children's author, wrote many of his books in pencil on yellow legal pads.

• Roald Dahl

• a famous children's author

• wrote many of his books

• yellow legal pads

What is the appositive(s) phrase? The car, a silver Honda, had two flat tires.

• The car

• had two flat tires

• The car

• a silver Honda

Choose the appositive in the sentence.
Jada, my sister, is beautiful.

• Jada

• my sister

• beautiful

Appositives are used to give more information about a noun without using a verb. Which one of these phrases COULD be an appositive?

• my youngest brother

• watching TV

• growing up with my friends

• eating after school

Answer explanation

The only option that DIDN'T have a verb in it was "my youngest brother". Using this phrase as an appositive would look like this:

"Emory, my youngest brother, is a freshman."

Appositives are special because they can be deleted from a sentence without changing the sentence's meaning. What could be deleted from the sentence below?

My niece, Eleanor, is a big fan of unicorns.

• My niece

• Eleanor

• is a big fan of

• unicorns

Answer explanation

The only word you can delete without changing the meaning of the sentence is "Eleanor." We don't need to know her name to understand the sentence.

My niece is a big fan of unicorns.

You might have noticed already, but appositives are always surrounded by commas (,). Is the appositive below correct?

• No, there should be a comma after "codetalkers"

• No, there should be no comma before "a group"

• Yes, the sentence is completely correct.

Answer explanation

This appositive is just missing the second comma at the end of it. It should be...

"The Navajo, a group of codetalkers, were useful in the 1940s."

Remember the appositive adds detail. If it is essential information,  no commas are needed. Make sure whatever you see as the appositive is the add on not the important information.

•  My mom, a nurse drives a red car.

• My mom, a nurse, drives a red car.

• My mom a nurse drives a red car.

Identify the appositive: An enormous man with great strength, Henry was able to carry the entire pallet of bricks by himself.

• An enormous man with great strength

• Henry

• the entire pallet of bricks

• by himself

Identify the appositive:

• Trixie

• A beautiful German Shepard

• German Shepard

• was my favorite dog

What is the appositive in this sentence?

The store was out of my favorite snack, honey mustard pretzels.

• Was out of

• Out of my favorite snack

• Honey mustard pretzels

• None of the above