Hi Rex,

Here is how I explain appositives to students.  I say: An appositive is a
definition of someone or something.  You use definitions all the time.  For
example, you might say, "George is the student in the back row.  Friday is the
best day of the week.”  Those are definitions.

When you write, you can put this information into a sentence all by itself.  For
example, "Charlene needs a ride to school tomorrow.  Charlene is my brother’s best
friend.”  But if all of your sentences are in this same short pattern, your
writing may sound choppy and boring.  Writers solve this problem by using
additions.  Watch.  Take the essential information (the meat) in the second
sentence, and you’ll get "my brother’s best friend.”  Now add that information to
the first sentence.

 Charlene, my brother’s best friend, needs a ride to school tomorrow.

Some background information.  A sentence is like a bike.  It has two wheels: a
"who or what” and a "what about it.”  These two parts, the subject and predicate,
make up the core sentence.  There is never a comma separating the subject from the
predicate; they connect firmly to form a stable structure.  Once you have a bike,
you can add additional information to the front handlebars (a starter), the middle
(interrupter), or the back fender (ender).  You need to mark these additions with
commas so readers can keep track of the core sentence.  Readers are always looking
for the "who or what” and the "what about it.”   Thus, notice that we put commas
on both sides of the definition addition.  These commas are like handles allowing
readers to lift out the addition and see the core sentence: Charlene needs a ride
to school tomorrow.

The bike image helps students understand sentence structure.  Whether they are
working in small groups or on the blackboard, ask them to underline the core
sentence (bike) and circle the addition.  This same process works for other
additions, such as -ing additions and -ed additions.

Hope ths helps.  Please feel free to ask any of your teaching questions here.
ATEG is a great group of people who enjoy grammar – Pam Dykstra


Pamela Dykstra
South Suburban College
South Holland, IL 60473


Rex Houston wrote:

> I know that this email doesn't have anything to do
> with what you guys are discussing, but I need some
> help. I would like to know if any of you have any
> suggestions on how to teach appositives to seventh
> graders so that they can understand them.  Please help
> if you can.
> --- "William J. McCleary" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > Craig,
> >
> > I was truly startled by your latest message. Your
> > view of the world of
> > discourse, the thesis, and the connection between
> > text and grammar is one
> > that many of us have been working with since the
> > late sixties. The basis of
> > this work is James Kinneavy's book, A Theory of
> > Discourse.
> >
> > Of course, our view of the connection between text
> > and grammar is likely
> > not as sophisticated as yours, for we are attempting
> > to teach this material
> > to students, who are not able to do much with
> > grammar.
> >
> > For a textbook that makes the connection and uses
> > approximately the same
> > categories of text types as yours, see Writing in
> > the Liberal Arts
> > Tradition, by Kinneavy, McCleary, and Nakadate, 2nd
> > edition, Harper & Row,
> > 1990. It's old but still in print.
> >
> > Bill
> >
> >
> >   Certainly that there is no decent text making the
> > >connections between grammar and whole text
> > discourse is a position worth
> > >taking seriously. My own approach borrows and
> > steals from SFG, but draws
> > >from many other sources as well. I am trying to
> > fill a need.
> >
> > >Craig
> > >
> >
> >
> > William J. McCleary
> > Livonia, NY
> >
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> >
> > Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
>
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