What Is Apposition in Grammar?
The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation
What Is Apposition in Grammar?
In writing and in speech, we will often include information that further specifies or identifies what we are communicating:
Caleb’s son, Richard
Jane Doe, the mayor
Linus, Lucy’s brother
When we include this extra information, we are using what is known in grammar as apposition. We also refer to these additional details as appositives.
Apposition Definition and Examples
Originating from Latin for “to place near; contribute as an additional element,” apposition is the placing of a noun or noun substitute beside another noun or noun substitute to rename, restate, identify, or further explain it.
Consider the following:
Please give it to Caleb’s son.
Please give it to Caleb’s son, Richard.
Please give it to Caleb’s son Richard.
In the first sentence, we understand only that Caleb has a son. In the second and third sentences, the appositive, Richard, identifies who Caleb’s son is. The sentences also indicate the number of sons Caleb has—something we’ll further address in a moment.
Apposition can apply to longer noun phrases as well:
Meet Harold, the fearless inventor of the car-roof seat.
Paris, the City of Lights
the new Porsche Cayenne, my recently acquired gift to myself
Apposition Examples: Restrictive and Nonrestrictive
Apposition can be restrictive or nonrestrictive with the information it provides. If the appositive is restrictive, it is necessary to the meaning of the relationship between the noun or noun phrase and its substitute. If it is nonrestrictive, the apposition provides additional insight that is not vital to our understanding.
Restrictive and nonrestrictive appositives are identified by their punctuation or lack thereof. Let’s return to our previous examples:
Please give it to Caleb’s son.
Please give it to Caleb’s son, Richard.
Please give it to Caleb’s son Richard.
The first sentence simply states that Caleb has a son—that’s as much as we know. In the second sentence, we have an appositive, Richard, set apart by a comma. The comma identifies the appositive as being nonrestrictive. It lets us know that Caleb has one son, and his name is Richard. We now have that extra information about his one son. For that reason, we might not have to use the appositive in all subsequent references.
In the third sentence, we have the appositive with no punctuation. The lack of punctuation signals that the apposition is restrictive. Caleb has more than one son, and this son’s name is Richard. If our context includes all of Caleb’s sons, we may need to continue identifying their names to be clear about whom we’re describing.
Apposition Examples: Case
Appositives take the same case as the noun or pronoun with which they are in apposition.
Examples Subjective Case
We—Isabella and I—are going to the movies this afternoon.
The two employees—Michelina and he—will complete their training next week.
Examples Objective Case
Isabella, let’s you and me go to the movies this afternoon. (the same as let us go to the movies)
The training will be completed next week by the two employees—Michelina and him. (Michelina and him are appositive objects of the preposition by.)
When considering the case of apposition, we should be mindful to avoid being tricked by a pronoun into using the wrong case.
Example
We girls love to go dancing together. (Girls and we are correct in subjective restrictive apposition; us girls love to go dancing would be incorrect.)
They asked us fraternity brothers to attend the pledge event. (Us and fraternity brothers are correct as restrictive direct-object appositives; they asked we fraternity brothers would be incorrect.)
Apposition Examples: More About Punctuation
Apposition can be identified by a comma, a colon, a dash, or parentheses.
Examples
Meet Harold, the fearless inventor of the car-roof seat. (nonrestrictive objective apposition)
The training will be completed next week by the two employees: Michelina and him. (nonrestrictive objective apposition)
Please give it to Caleb’s son—Richard. (nonrestrictive objective apposition)
Jane Doe (the mayor) will attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony. (nonrestrictive subjective apposition)
Pop Quiz
Determine proper apposition in the following sentences by including or removing comma punctuation that makes the appositives properly restrictive or nonrestrictive.
1. John the first son of Maribel and Joseph is the inheritor of the estate.
2. My wife of thirty years Emily is being promoted at work.
3. Jeb has three sons. Please inform his son, Daniel, about the family event.
4. I have two cousins. My cousin, Danielle, is a concert pianist.
5. That woman over there is Francesa Piccetta doctor of family medicine.
Pop Quiz Answers
1. John, the first son of Maribel and Joseph, is the inheritor of the estate. add commas for nonrestrictive apposition
2. My wife of thirty years, Emily, is being promoted at work. add commas for nonrestrictive apposition
3. Jeb has three sons. Please inform his son Daniel about the family event. remove commas for restrictive apposition
4. I have two cousins. My cousin Danielle is a concert pianist. remove commas for restrictive apposition
5. That woman over there is Francesa Piccetta, doctor of family medicine. add comma for nonrestrictive apposition
If the article or the existing discussions do not address a thought or question you have on the subject, please use the "Comment" box at the bottom of this page.
Why wouldn’t it be correct to also interpret the 2nd phrase “Please give it to Caleb’s son, Richard” as telling Richard to give “it” to Caleb’s son?
Your interpretation is correct if the intended meaning is direct address to Richard. The focus of this article is apposition rather than direct address.
Does the term “appositive” always apply only to the second noun or noun substitute, or is each considered an appositive of the other? For instance, would the appositive be “my favourite snack” in the first sentence below and “potato chips” in the second sentence?
Potato chips, my favourite snack, contain a lot of salt.
My favourite snack, potato chips, contains a lot of salt.
Also, in the case of sentences such as “Please give it to Caleb’s son Richard,” in which the lack of comma after “son” denotes that Caleb has more than one son, what happens if we write, instead, “Please give it to Richard, Caleb’s son”? I assume that in that type of construction, (a) a comma is always required regardless of whether the appositive is restrictive or nonrestrictive, and (b) the reader would not be able to tell, from those words alone, whether Richard is Caleb’s only son. Is that correct?
“Appositive” refers only to the second word or word group that defines or further identifies the noun or noun phrase preceding it. In each of your examples, the second reference is in apposition to the first.
In the second question/example, we cannot determine whether there is more than one son from the information given alone. We might perhaps infer that Richard is the only son present, and he could be more one of more sons. An alternative might be “…Richard, Caleb’s first [or youngest] son,” but that would depend on what else is going on around that reference. Please see our post Commas with Appositives for more information.