Appositives

1. Appositives The use of appositives is another excellent tool to introduce sentence variety.  An appositive is a noun or noun phrase that immediately follows another noun.  An appositive explains or defines the noun it follows and is set off by commas. Here are two examples of appositives, the first sentence containing one appositive and the second sentence containing two appositives: Mexico City, the biggest city in the world, has many interesting archaeological sites. Mexico City = the biggest city in the world Denver, the capital of Colorado, is the home of the Denver Broncos, the best football team in the US. Denver = the capital of Colorado Denver Broncos = the best football team in the US. Each appositive in the examples above is set off by commas.  Appositives are always set off by commas.  Another interesting aspect of appositives is that they can always be exchanged with the nouns they modify as in another example: The altitude of Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, is over 12,000 feet. The altitude of the capital of Tibet, Lhasa, is over 12,000 feet. The altitude of Lhasa is over 12,000 feet. The altitude of the capital of Tibet is over 12,000 feet. In the examples above, the appositives are in bold.  In each case the appositive and its commas could be omitted from the sentence completely leaving excellent sentences as is shown.