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Apposition is when you have 2 nouns (or noun phrases) next to each other and
they both refer to the same thing. Each of them provides a bit of information
about each other.
In other words, we take two noun phrases and use them together. They can
either provide more information (after all, Clark Kent is an ace reporter) or they
can rename each other:
Don’t leave your socks on the floor or + our puppy, + Luca, + will eat them.
In the examples above, the apposition means that we have 2 noun phrases next
to each other and both refer to the same thing. The noun phrases are, in other
words, in apposition.
Punctuation
When nouns are in apposition they are usually (although not always) offset with
commas, brackets or dashes.
Diane (doyen of the peripatetic world) got on her bike.
In the second example we want the extra information to stand out so we use
dashes.
Finally in the third example it is essential that we have both noun phrases for the
sentence to make sense so there’s no need to use any form of punctuation.
Apposition and TEFL
It’s not normally necessary to specifically teach apposition in class, however as
a TEFL teacher you should be aware of the term and what it means.
Phrases can be joined together by coordinating conjunctions such as and, or and but.
Here are some examples, with the conjoined elements marked in square brackets and the
conjunctions highlighted:
A conjoined unit like totally different and much calmer does not have a single Head, so in
that way it is different from other phrases. However, it functions within the clause like a
single phrase. Compare: