Sentence Structures

Appositives

Appositive Sentences

A noun, noun phrase, or series of nouns placed next to another word or phrase to identify or rename it.

Examples

Kim, the crazy lady who teaches English, jumped back and forth on the stage.

Professional Examples

"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."(Nick Paumgarten, "Up and Then Down," The New Yorker, Apr. 21, 2008)

"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)

Examples Cont.

"The hangman, a grey-haired convict in the white uniform of the prison, was waiting beside his machine."(George Orwell, "A Hanging," 1931)

"My father, a fat 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."(Alice Walker, "Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self." In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens. Harcourt Brace, 1983)

Your Turn!

Find a Partner Partner 1: get a pen and paper Partner 2: do an action (ex. Jump

around like a monkey; wave to the crowd)

Partner 1: write down descriptive words about your partners actions

Switch roles

Your Turn

Return to your seats

Using the descriptions you wrote down, compose an appositive sentence to describe what you saw.

Noun, internal (thoughts, feelings, persona) or external (looks, physical traits) description of noun, predicate (tells us what the noun is doing, thinking, etc.)

ex. Kim, with her stubby hands waving in the air, declared her love for rats.

ex. The rats, lovers of fine food, speedily devoured the swiss and cheddar cheese blocks.

HW Application

Find eight sentences in chapter one of your novella you would like to improve

Change the structure to reflect the appositive sentence style.

Highlight these sentences on your first typed draft.

note: these sentences will be used to measure your mastery of essential skill 1: Sentence Structure