Friday , March 29 2024
Figures of Speech

Appositive Examples: Appositive for Students and Children

What happens when you miss out a part of your sentence either while reading or writing? It becomes meaningless and incomplete. This phenomenon, often considered sacrosanct, doesn’t really apply to a sentence with an appositive. Appositive is an excellent tool that can be defined as a noun or phrase of noun that describes, identifies or renames another word in the same sentence. These basically convey extra information of the noun, which could also be omitted from the sentence without altering its meaning. There is no specific rule that appositive sentences should appear only after the word being described- they can also precede the same. Appositives have had a rich past and have been in use since the 14th century by George Chaucer; this trend was continued in the 16th century by William Shakespeare as well. They can be recognized clearly from the sentence as they are separated by commas. With the appropriate use of these figures of speech, you can easily make your language richer. This article is aimed to enhance your appositives understanding with the help of the right kind of examples.

Appositives Sentences

Sentences Beginning With Appositives

  • A hot tempered cricket player, Peter literally tried to crack the wicket keeper’s skull.
  • A beautiful collie, Tom was one my favorite pet dogs.
  • Your sister, Mary got through her exams with first class.
  • My neighbor, Sam bought a new car.
  • Your best friend, Lily is performing at the art club tomorrow.
  • God’s own country, Kerala is most sought for as tourist destinations.
  • The most untidy area of the house, Benny’s study room is packed full of books.
  • A beautiful girl who lives next door, Sneha is my friend’s sister.

Appositives In Between Sentences

  • My friend’s car, a red classic convertible with buckle seats, is the topic of discussion today.
  • When I was in trouble, my bold friend, Danielle stood by me.
  • The chief cardiac surgeon, an expert of heart transplants, came home for dinner yesterday.
  • Rabindranath Tagore, a renowned poet, is the first Asian to win the Nobel Prize for literature.
  • Maya, a bold innovator, is famous for her artistic painting collections at school.
  • The City of Mexico, a large city, is recorded to be heavily polluted.
  • Susan, my neighbor, is a good cook.
  • Ms. Elizabeth, my vice-principal, punished me for not doing homework.
  • My mother, a lovely woman, baked cupcakes for my birthday.
  • The altitude of the capital of Tibet, Lhasa, is over 12,000 feet.
  • Jenny, my lovely puppy, almost drank my juice while I was in the other room.
  • Denver, the capital of Colorado, is the home of the Denver Broncos, the best football team in the US.
  • Michael Watt, who is a trained magician, performed at my sister’s birthday party.
  • “The Otis Elevator Company, the world’s oldest and biggest elevator manufacturer, claims that its products carry the equivalent of the world’s population every five days. (“Up and Then Down” , Nick Paumgarten, April, 2008)
  • “The hangman, a grey-haired convict in the white uniform of the prison, was waiting beside his machine.” (“A Hanging,” George Orwell, 1931)
  • My wife, who is a nurse by training, has to work at night shifts also.
  • Dexter, the quickest boy in the neighborhood, ran down the street.
  • I am writing an autobiography of the famous poet, Rabindranath Tagore.
  • “The sky was sunless and grey, there was snow in the air, buoyant motes, play things that seethed and floated like the toy flakes inside a crystal.” (“The Muses Are Heard”, Truman Capote)
  • “My father, a fat, funny man with beautiful eyes and a subversive wit, is trying to decide which of his eight children he will take with him to the county fair.” (“Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is The Self, Alice Walker, 1983)
  • Sohan, the representative of school sports, received the ‘Special Achievement Award’ this year.
  • Sara and Miranda, my school friends, are planning to start a band on their own.
  • Richard, my intimate colleague, who would be delighted.
  • “The Koeberg Nuclear Power Station, Africa’s only nuclear power plant, was inaugurated in 1984 by the apartheid regime and is the major source of electricity for the Western Cape’s 4.5 million population.” (Joshua Hammer, “Inside Cape Town,” April 2008)

Sentences Ending With Appositives

  • I gave my lecture notes to Abhay, who is a friend of mine.
  • “I have had the great honor to have played with these great veteran ballplayers on my left–Murderers Row, our championship team of 1927. I have had the further honor of living with and playing with these men on my right–the Bronx Bombers, the Yankees of today.” (, The Pride of the Yankees, Gary Cooper as Lou Gehrig, 1942)
  • “Though her cheeks were high-colored and her teeth strong and yellow, she looked like a mechanical woman, a machine with flashing, glassy circles for eyes.” (Kate Simon, ‘Bronx Primitive’, 1982)
  • Herald passed away yesterday, who was a great writer.
  • Michael was in all terms different from Sam, the unfaithful husband.
  • The village of Holcomb stands on the high wheat plains of western Kansas, a lonesome area that other Kansans call ‘out there’. (Truman Capote, ‘In Cold Blood)

The best way to get acquainted with this figure of speech is to practice constantly. Appositives are usually the extra information which, when removed, do not alter the meaning of the sentence. Since, they are separated using commas, appositives can be easily separated from the sentences for the convenience of the reader. Appositives serve to be good, and potent (!), tools that can be used by readers and writers as well to add vigor to their piece of work. So it is safe to say that appositives, the figures of speech we just talked about, are important to everybody interested in using literary devices.

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