Appositives are often added to sentences to give further detail. Knowing how to recognize and punctuate them is a valuable skill.

What is an appositive?

An appositive is a word or word group placed next to another word to rename, define or explain it. Most appositives are nouns or pronouns, together with their modifiers (if any). Usually, appositives follow a noun; however, they can also come before the subject of a sentence or in front of a proper noun.

In the examples below, the appositives are in italics:

Noun with modifiers:

Manitoulin Island, the largest freshwater island in the world, is located in Lake Huron.

[commas needed with non-essential appositive]

Noun with modifiers before subject:

A popular hike for beginners, Manitoulin’s Cup and Saucer Trail offers spectacular views.

[comma needed with non-essential appositive]

Pronoun with modifiers:

Tourists also like to visit Bridal Veil Falls, one of the prettiest waterfalls in Ontario.

[comma needed with non-essential appositive]

Noun alone:

Visitors enjoy the yearly festival at Manitoulin’s largest reserve, Wikwemikong.

[comma needed with the non-essential appositive Wikwemikong]

Title before a proper noun:

Walkhouse Bay on the Manitoulin’s west shore is actually named after Chief Waakaa’ose.

[no comma with the essential appositive Chief]

How do I punctuate an appositive?

The punctuation depends on whether the appositive is essential to the meaning of the word it is attached to (called the headword).

There are cases when the appositive is too closely related to the meaning of the headword to be separated from it:

The name Mindemoya comes from an Ojibwa word meaning “old woman.”

Here, the appositive identifies the headword name: without the appositive, we would not know what name was meant. Therefore, the appositive is essential and is not separated from the headword with commas.

But many appositives give only non-essential information. In the first four examples above, the places referred to are already identified by their names (Manitoulin Island, Cup and Saucer Trail, Bridal Veil Falls) and by the noun phrase Manitoulin’s largest reserve. Therefore, the appositives give only secondary, additional information and are set off with commas.