Embedded Files
What they are:
What they are:
"An appositive is a second noun, or noun phrase, that is placed next to another noun to explain it more fully" (TWR 2.0, pgs. 96-101). For example, in the sentence below, the phrase "an English teacher at ACCE" provides more information about Mr. S:
Mr. S, an English teacher at ACCE, is using Writing Revolution strategies in his warm-ups this week.
Appositives appear frequently in informational articles and textbooks and learning how to use appositives helps build students' reading comprehension along with helping them add information and complexity to their sentences.
The Strategies:
The Strategies:
Identifying Appositives
Identifying Appositives
The first step in teaching appositives is explaining what appositives are. The anchor chart to the right is a good place to start. As you introduce appositives to students, make sure to explain that appositives:
are always right next to (before or after) a noun and provide more information about it.
are separated from the rest of the sentence by commas.
often start with "a," "an," or "the."
After introducing appositives, ask students to identify appositives in sentences that already have them.
Examples:
Franklin Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States, was in office for a total of 12 years.
A keystone species, wolves are essential to the ecosystem of Yellowstone National Park.
Newton's third law, the idea that each action has an equal and opposite reaction, helps explain why Frank broke his hand when he punched the wall.
Matching Appositives
Matching Appositives
After students can identify appositives, you can have them match appositives to the nouns they help describe. This is a good basic review activity to check for understanding of vocabulary can also be used as a quiz or test section. See the below example from Romeo and Juliet.
Fill in Appositives
Fill in Appositives
You can also have students add appositives to sentences that you create. This can be done with and without a word bank, depending on the familiarity students have with the content. This example comes from American Government:
Brandon Scott, ________________________, is part of the Executive Branch at the local level.
Barack Obama used an executive order, ____________________________, to establish DACA.
Many gun control advocates say that the Second Amendment, _________________________, is outdated, as it was written before the invention of automatic weapons capable of facilitating mass murder.
Brainstorm Appositives
Brainstorm Appositives
Brainstorming appositives for different key vocabulary terms another way students can practice using appositives while strengthening their content knowledge. In this activity, the teacher provides students with a vocabulary word that is a noun or noun phrase and students create a list of appositives that would add information about the term.
Example:
Directions: Brainstorm appositives for the topic below.
Topic: Harriet Tubman
an antislavery activist
a leader of the Underground Railroad
the biggest badass in American History
a native of Maryland
a liberator of the enslaved
a Civil War spy
Given an Appositive, Write a Sentence
Given an Appositive, Write a Sentence
In this activity, the teacher provides an appositive and students use it to create a sentence that includes that appositive.
Example:
Directions: Write a sentence using the provided appositive.
an impulsive teenager
Romeo, an impulsive teenager, quickly forgets about his love for Rosaline when he meets Juliet.
a protective father
Juliet is lucky that Lord Capulet, a protective father, does not agree to Paris' marriage proposal.
Given an Topic, Write a Sentence with an Appositive
Given an Topic, Write a Sentence with an Appositive
In this activity, the teacher provides a topic and students write a sentence about that topic includes an appositive.
Example:
Directions: For each topic, write a sentence using an appositive.
healthy relationships
Trust, a key part of healthy relationships, comes as a result of consistent actions that show that someone is reliable.
addiction
Addiction, a condition that affects 12% of American adults, is also known as "substance use disorder."
Page updated
Report abuse