At 04:05 PM 7/26/2001, you wrote:

Jennifer,

1) The commas aren't needed with single word appositives: "My sister Alice was beautiful."

Actually the distinction is between restrictive appositives (no commas) and nonrestrictive appositives (commas). The number of words has nothing to do with it.

Restrictive examples (note: these are read with no pauses):

The color purple is ...
Shakespeare's play The Merchant of Venice is ...
My son the doctor is ...

Nonrestrictive examples (note the pauses where the commas are):

My favorite color, purple, is ...
Shakespeare's most celebrated play, Hamlet, is ...
My father, a Korean War veteran, is ...

Dick Veit