Appositive Phrase

My editor, a careful reader and perfectionist, reviews my articles thoroughly before they are published.

I am sure you must be wondering why is the phrase careful reader and perfectionist is in a different color. Well, it is an appositive phrase, and the color helps it stand out in the sentence. A phrase is defined as a group of words that act as a unit. There is no subject or a verb in a phrase. There are four types of phrases; they are prepositional, appositive, verbal, and absolute. We are going to have a look at what is an appositive phrase in the following paragraphs.

What is it?
According to a definition it is a noun or noun phrase that renames or modifies or amplifies another noun beside it. This phrase can be short or long. It always appears after the word it identifies or explains. It is always a noun phrase or pronoun phrase. A noun phrase consists of a noun and associated modifiers. These modifiers can be adjectives, participial phrase, infinitive phrase, modifying clause or prepositional phrase. Let us have a look at a few examples that will help explain the concept to you. But before that let's have a look at the different types.

Types
This phrase can be essential appositive or nonessential appositive phrase. In case of the former, it contains information that is necessary to convey the meaning of a sentence. The phrase in this case, is not separated by a comma from the rest of the sentence. For example:

My favorite superhero Batman fought Joker single-handedly and saved the people of Gotham.

In the above example, Batman is the essential appositive without which the sentence sounds incomplete due to lack of information.

A nonessential appositive phrase helps give information related to the sentence. However, the information provided is additional and will not affect the basic meaning of the sentence, if omitted. It is separated using a comma in this case.

Batman, my favorite superhero, fought Joker single-handedly and saved the people of Gotham.

In the above example, my favorite superhero is the phrase. Even if you are not told by the writer that Batman is his favorite superhero, it is quite self-explanatory that he fought Joker to save Gotham. You can even change the nonessential phrase and it won't affect the basic meaning of the sentence. For example:

Batman, a DC comics superhero, fought Joker single-handedly and saved the people of Gotham.

The best way to differentiate between the two phrases is that essential phrase is important to convey the basic meaning of the sentence. If you change the essential appositive, it will change the meaning or facts related to the sentence. Also, a nonessential phrase requires a comma. Let us have a look at some examples to make things more clear.

Examples
The appositive phrase in the sentence is highlighted using red font color.

• My uncle, a doctor, is visiting America for the holidays.
• The scouts climbed the mountain, one of the highest in the region.
• My sister-in-law Mary can knit 1 sweater in a day.
• Our home, a farmhouse, is being repaired.

As you can see they are nouns or pronouns that explain more about another noun. This was all about the rules of grammar and composition.