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Appositives
David and Paige explain appositives, noun phrases that clarify or redefine another noun, and how to use commas to set them off in sentences. "My favorite snack, the cookie cat, is back in stock!" is a sentence that uses an appositive.
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- In the sentence at00:41, My older sister, Griselda, is going to college in the fall; if I put Griselda at the beginning of the sentence, it continues as an appositive? Griselda, my older sister, is going to college in the fall.(25 votes)
- In that sentence ("Griselda, my older sister, is ..."), the appositive is "my older sister." It appears between two commas and provides additional information about Griselda (the fact that she is "my older sister").
In the first example, "Griselda" is the appositive because it shows up between two commas and is providing additional information about "my older sister" (the fact that her name is Griselda).
Hope this helps!(46 votes)
- i have completed the whole grammar thing(15 votes)
- Congratulations! What will you do next?(21 votes)
- When you have an appositive in a sentence you put a comma either side of it like this: "The squirrel, Mr Nutty, was playing leap frog." But would you put a comma in if the appositive isn't there like this: "The squirrel, was playing leap frog."
I hope I've made this question clear enough.(11 votes)- "The squirrel, was playing leap frog" is incorrect
the correct sentence is "The squirrel was playing leap frog". In the first, there is an extra pause, the comma. In short, you wouldn't have the comma.(13 votes)
- i don't know how to use a apostrophe in a sentence can someone help me everyday except for saturday and sunday please and thank you.(7 votes)
- There are two basic ways to use the apostrophe: to show possession (ex. Bob’s dog = the dog that belongs to Bob) and to join two words in a contraction (ex. Bob’s happy = Bob is happy).
Khan Academy also has some videos on the apostrophe: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/grammar/punctuation-the-comma-and-the-apostrophe
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/grammar/punctuation-the-comma-and-the-apostrophe/apostrophes-and-contractions/v/introduction-to-the-apostrophe-the-apostrophe-punctuation-khan-academy
Let me know if you need more help on this topic!(9 votes)
- why is it as we grow up we become less social and more depressed?(7 votes)
- It has been the opposite trajectory for me. Look forward to your 70s.(6 votes)
- so you're saying "appositives" are a noun phrase that describes a sentence. right?(6 votes)
- An appositive is, indeed, a noun phrase. But it does not describe a sentence, it just tells you a little bit more about the noun to which it stands in apposition.
"Sarah, my sister, is pregnant."(7 votes)
- I have a question. I did a question in the exercise and it said: "I get to work by train my preferred mode of transportation". They told me to correct this sentence. So is "I get to work by train, my preferred mode, of transportation" also correct? They said it was wrong.(5 votes)
- One way to double check yourself is by checking if you can take out your appositive with the sentence still making sense. So in your attempt if you were to take out your appositive, "my preferred mode," you would be left with the sentence "I get to work by train of transportation" which doesn't make much sense. That's why "I get to work by train, my preferred mode of transportation." is correct. We can take out the appositive "my preferred mode of transportation."(8 votes)
- Nooooooo, not the cookie cat :((8 votes)
- I want david and paige to have a talk show!(6 votes)
- I am apositive I can get 100% on the quiz:)
get it??(6 votes)
Video transcript
- [Voiceover] Hello
grammarians, and hello Paige. - [Voiceover] Hi David. - [Voiceover] So today we're
going to be talking about the appositive, which is
just a monster of a word. I can tell you that from
my limited study of Latin it comes from ad positio,
which is "putting on", which doesn't really necessarily help. What is this thing? What is this device, how do we use it, and what does it have to do with commas? - [Voiceover] That is a great question. The definition itself is
also kind of confusing, but it'll make a lot of sense
when we see some examples. My older sister, Griselda, is
going to college in the fall. - [Voiceover] Okay, so, an appositive, what is the definition
of an appositive then? - [Voiceover] So it is a
noun phrase that clarifies or redefines its antecedent. - [Voiceover] And an antecedent
is just something that comes before, so what we're doing
here with Griselda is, we are redefining or clarifying
who my older sister is, so in order to do that,
we're putting it between these commas like so, and
we're just saying it again. My older sister, Griselda, is
going to college in the fall. - [Voiceover] Right. - [Voiceover] But it
doesn't always have to be in the middle like this, right. - [Voiceover] That's true,
it can be say, at the end. So, they stopped selling my
favorite snack, the Cookie Cat. - [Voiceover] I am so sorry. - [Voiceover] I know. It's so sad. - [Voiceover] So we've got
this apposition then at the end of the sentence, so my favorite
snack is being redefined or clarified by Cookie Cat. Or rather, Cookie Cat is clarifying or redefining my favorite snack. - [Voiceover] Right. I could just say, "They stopped
selling my favorite snack." - [Voiceover] That could just
be its own sentence right. - [Voiceover] Totally. - [Voiceover] They stopped
selling my favorite snack. My older sister is going
to college in the fall. This stuff isn't essential to the understanding of the sentence. - [Voiceover] Right, but if you don't know what my favorite snack
is, then it's helpful for me to say, the Cookie Cat. - [Voiceover] So you can use
them as in the first sentence, my older sister comma Griselda
comma is going to college in the fall, or you can use
it as in the second sentence, they stopped selling my favorite snack comma the Cookie Cat period. - [Voiceover] Right. You don't need another comma. - [Voiceover] Right. - [Voiceover] At the end. - [Voiceover] Let's change
that back into a comma. - [Voiceover] So this is
just another illustration of the separating power of
the comma, cuz we're using it to set off this explanatory,
clarifying element in the middle or at the
end of these sentences. - [Voiceover] Yeah, exactly,
that's what the comma does. Man, it seems like commas can do anything. - [Voiceover] Yeah,
it's pretty incredible. You know what else can do anything? - [Voiceover] What? - [Voiceover] The viewer, you the viewer, you can learn anything. That's the appositive and
how it relates to commas. David out. - [Voiceover] Paige out.