TYPICAL ERROR Snoopy the cartoon character has a brother called Spike.
CORRECTION Snoopy, the cartoon character, has a brother called Spike.
EXPLANATION Notice that in the example above, a noun phrase (the cartoon character) has been placed beside another noun (Snoopy), the noun phrase providing additional information about the first noun. This is called apposition (ap- meaning beside, and position). Whenever a noun or noun phrase is placed in apposition with another noun, we place commas around it to show where the appositional statement begins and ends.
Other examples of noun phrases placed in apposition would be:
- Emily, my sister, plays netball.
- The Wiggles, a group of children’s entertainers, are very successful.
- I like to make risotto, an Italian rice dish.
Of course, more complex examples of apposition can involve quite long appositional phrases:
In that sentence, element and notion are in apposition, but they are surrounded by layers of adjectival information. Here is another example:
People who do not understand apposition (especially in more complex sentences) sometimes punctuate the appositional phrase as a separate fragment. For example:
- National pride creates national unity. A feeling of group solidarity.
- We are all part of a global village. A world that is becoming smaller by the minute because of improved communications.
In each case a comma should have been used to mark off the appositional phrases, as below.
- National pride creates national unity, a feeling of group solidarity.
- We are all part of a global village, a world that is becoming smaller by the minute because of improved communications.