Let’s look at the following sentence: “The truck is blue.” In this sentence we know that the “truck” is a common noun. What can we learn about the truck in this sentence? We learn that it is “blue”. “Blue” is an adjective as it describes the truck. Now let’s learn about an appositive. An appositive is a phrase that describes, identifies or further defines a noun or a pronoun. There is, however, a difference. Remember, an adjective is a word whereas an appositive is a phrase. In the sentence above we learned that the truck was blue. Now let’s look at the truck using an appositive. The truck,... Show more

Let’s look at the following sentence: “The truck is blue.” In this sentence we know that the “truck” is a common noun. What can we learn about the truck in this sentence? We learn that it is “blue”. “Blue” is an adjective as it describes the truck.

Now let’s learn about an appositive. An appositive is a phrase that describes, identifies or further defines a noun or a pronoun. There is, however, a difference. Remember, an adjective is a word whereas an appositive is a phrase. In the sentence above we learned that the truck was blue. Now let’s look at the truck using an appositive.

The truck, which was purchased at Rocky’s Auto Outlet, is blue.

The adjective told us that the truck is “blue” but the appositive told us “which was purchased at Rocky’s Auto Outlet.” This is a phrase that gives us further information about the noun “truck.” Appositives are generally found between two commas, one at the beginning of the phrase and one at the end unless the appositive begins the sentence or ends the sentence.

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