apposition
Sign in to saveApposition is a grammatical construction in which two elements, normally noun phrases, are placed side by side so one element identifies the other in a different way. The two elements are said to be "in apposition", and the element identifying the other is called the appositive. The identification of an appositive requires consideration of how the elements are used in a sentence.
~7 min read
Article
7 sectionsContents
- Restrictive versus non-restrictive
- Examples
- Appositive genitive
- See also
- Notes
- References
- External links
Apposition is a grammatical construction in which two elements, normally noun phrases, are placed side by side so one element identifies the other in a different way. The two elements are said to be "in apposition", and the element identifying the other is called the appositive. The identification of an appositive requires consideration of how the elements are used in a sentence.
For example, in these sentences, the phrases Alice Smith and my sister are in apposition, with the appositive identified with italics: My sister, Alice Smith, likes jelly beans. Alice Smith, my sister, likes jelly beans.