Apposition

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.

Traditionally, appositives were called by their Latin name appositio, derived from the Latin ad ("near") and positio ("placement"), although the English form is now more commonly used.

Apposition is a figure of speech of the scheme type and often results when the verbs (particularly verbs of being) in supporting clauses are eliminated to produce shorter descriptive phrases. That makes them often function as hyperbatons, or figures of disorder, because they can disrupt the flow of a sentence. For example, in the phrase "My wife, a surgeon by training, ..." it is necessary to pause before the parenthetical modification "a surgeon by training".

Restrictive versus non-restrictive

A restrictive appositive provides information essential to identifying the phrase in apposition. It limits or clarifies that phrase in some crucial way, such that the meaning of the sentence would change if the appositive were removed. In English, restrictive appositives are not set off by commas. The sentences below use restrictive appositives. Here and elsewhere in this section, the relevant phrases are marked as the appositive phrase^A or the phrase in apposition^P.

• My friend^P Alice Smith^A likes jelly beans. – I have many friends, but I am restricting my statement to the one named Alice Smith.
• He likes the television show^P The Simpsons^A. – There are many television shows, and he likes that particular one.

A non-restrictive appositive provides information not critical to identifying the phrase in apposition. It provides non-essential information, and the essential meaning of the sentence would not change if the appositive were removed. In English, non-restrictive appositives are typically set off by commas. The sentences below use non-restrictive appositives.

• Alice Smith^P, my friend^A, likes jelly beans. – The fact that Alice is my friend is not necessary to identify her.
• I visited Canada^P, a beautiful country^A. – The appositive (that it is beautiful) is not needed to identify Canada.
• The first to arrive at the house^A, she^P unlocked the front door.

The same phrase can be a restrictive appositive in one context and a non-restrictive appositive in another:

• My brother^P Nathan^A is here. – Restrictive: I have several brothers, and the one named Nathan is here.
• My brother^P, Nathan^A, is here. – Non-restrictive: I have only one brother and, as an aside, his name is Nathan.

If there is any doubt that the appositive is non-restrictive, it is safer to use the restrictive punctuation. In the example above, the restrictive first sentence is still correct even if there is only one brother.

A relative clause is not always an appositive.

• My sister^P, Alice Smith^A, likes jelly beans. – The appositive is the noun phrase Alice Smith.
• My sister^P, a doctor whose name is Alice Smith^A, likes jelly beans. – The appositive is the noun phrase with dependent relative clause a doctor whose name is Alice Smith.
• My sister, whose name is Alice Smith, likes jelly beans. – There is no appositive. There is a relative clause: whose name is Alice Smith.

Example using zero article:

• The English writer Agatha Christie^P, author of nearly a hundred mystery novels and stories^A, was born in 1891.