Using Commas with Appositives

An appositive is a noun or noun phrase that renames another noun right beside it, and it gets wrapped in commas.

Which sentence is punctuated correctly?

• The author of the story, Arthur C. Clarke, is famous for 2001: A Space Odyssey.

• The author of the story Arthur C. Clarke is famous for 2001: A Space Odyssey.

• The author of the story Arthur C. Clarke, is famous for 2001: A Space Odyssey.

• The author of the story, Arthur C. Clarke is famous for 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Which of the following sentences, using an appositive, is correct?

• Marianne, happy to help, showed me how to bake a cake.

• Marianne happy to help showed me how to bake a cake.

• Marianne happy, to help, showed me how to bake a cake.

• Marianne, happy, to help showed me how to bake a cake.

Choose the appositive in the sentence.

Jada, my sister, is in the ninth grade.

• Jada

• my sister

• is in

• the ninth grade

Select the appositive or appositive phrase.

William Shakespeare, the revered English playwright, wrote plays more than four hundred years ago; his works continue to influence people around the world.

• William Shakespeare

• the revered English playwright,

• wrote plays more than four hundred years ago that

• even now,

• continue to influence people around the world

What determines whether an appositive is non-essential?

• it is offset by commas

• it has quotations around it

• it is followed by a question mark

• it is hyphenated

If the appositive is important or essential to the meaning of your sentence, do not use commas to off set the appositive.

• True

• False

What is the function of the noun that the appositive explains?

Perry, a platypus with a fancy hat, fights crime to help the Tri-state Area.

• Subject

• Direct Object

• Predicate Nominative

• Object of the preposition

Identify the appositive or appositive phrase in the following sentence:

Joe Biden the United States President ordered the military to shoot down the Chinese balloon once it was over the ocean.

• non-restrictive appositive

• restrictive appositive

• restrictive clause

• non-restrictive participial phrase

• restrictive participial phrase

Identify the appositive in the sentence below.

• A gazehound

• gazehound

• the whippet

• whippet