Appositives & Absolutes!

8th grade grammar unit

What is an appositive?• An appositive is a noun or a pronoun placed beside

another noun or pronoun to further describe or modify it.– Example: The actress Angelina Jolie was ready for her scene.

• In this sentence, Angeline Jolie is the appositive. It is telling us more about the subject “the actress”.

• Often, appositives will be used to modify proper nouns. When this happens in a sentence it becomes a parenthetical statement (remember those?). When we have a parenthetical statement, we use commas on both sides of it.– Example: Mrs. Etter, a teacher, graded the essays.

What is an appositive phrase?• Sometimes appositives are just single words or terms,

such as in the examples on the previous screen.• But sometimes you need to modify your appositive,

perhaps using adjectives, adverbs, other phrases, etc. When you need to modify your appositive, you get what is called an appositive phrase.– Example of regular appositive:

• Mr. Joob, the teacher, graded the essays.

– Example of appositive phrase:• Miss C, the world-renowned teacher and amazingly talented

grammarian, graded the essays

When do I use commas and when do I not?! CONFUSING!

• You SHOULD use commas with appositives when…– You have an appositive phrase.– The appositive is modifying a proper noun.– The appositive is not essential to the sentence. Removing the

appositive would not alter the sentence’s meaning in any way.• You SHOULD NOT use commas with appositives…

– The appositive includes essential information that is integral to understanding the sentence. For example, I have two cats. So if I wrote a sentence like this, I wouldn’t need commas…• My cat Dodger destroyed the house yesterday.

– I wouldn’t need commas because the name of the cat is important to enhance understanding of the sentence.

• When in doubt? Treat your appositive or appositive phase as a parenthetical statement.

Let’s Practice!Tell us what the appositive or appositive phrase is in each sentence and punctuate it correctly.

Rachel Carson a biologist published

a novel in 1962.

Let’s Practice!Tell us what the appositive or appositive phrase is in each sentence and punctuate it correctly.

The teacher Mr. Stein wasn’t very

nice to us.

Let’s Practice!Tell us what the appositive or appositive phrase is in each sentence and punctuate it correctly.

Tacos one of my favorite Mexican dishes are

always served here on Mondays.

Let’s Practice!Tell us what the appositive or appositive phrase is in each sentence and punctuate it correctly.

Officer Friendly the school safety

officer talked to the students.

Let’s Practice!Tell us what the appositive or appositive phrase is in each sentence and punctuate it correctly.

I’ll have a sandwich the tuna on wheat with no cheese for

lunch.

Let’s Practice!Tell us what the appositive or appositive phrase is in each sentence and punctuate it correctly.

Barack Obama the president of the united states is speaking now.

Let’s Practice!Tell us what the appositive or appositive phrase is in each sentence and punctuate it correctly.

The senator Richard Durbin finally

spoke.

Let’s Practice!Tell us what the appositive or appositive phrase is in each sentence and punctuate it correctly.

Julie a student in my class raised her

hand.

Who cares?!• Understanding appositives will help you use

commas correctly when punctuating. Many of the comma errors that I encounter on student work come from parenthetical statements.

• Understanding appositives can improve your writing. Use appositives to enhance complex sentence structure in your writing.– Example: Santa Fe is a major tourist center. It is the

capital of New Mexico.– To rid our writing of blasé sentence structure like this, we

can use appositives to combine these two sentences:• Santa Fe, a major tourist center, is the capital of New Mexico.

Let’s Practice!Combine these two simple sentences using an appositive and correct punctuation.

Exact change is required to enter. It costs fifty cents.

Let’s Practice!Combine these two simple sentences using an appositive and correct punctuation.

The dog we bought yesterday is nice.

His name is Jimmy.

Let’s Practice!Combine these two simple sentences using an appositive and correct punctuation.

I met Johnny in London. He was a writer and painter.

Let’s Practice!Combine these two simple sentences using an appositive and correct punctuation.

To Kill a Mockingbird is for sale today. It is

the novel we are reading in school.

Let’s Practice!Combine these two simple sentences using an appositive and correct punctuation.

The film is sold out. It is a box

office hit.

Let’s Practice!Combine these two simple sentences using an appositive and correct punctuation.

My pet fish died last night. His name

was Hermes.

Let’s Practice!Combine these two simple sentences using an appositive and correct punctuation.

The Pacific Ocean glistened in front of me. It is the largest ocean in the world.

Let’s Practice!Combine these two simple sentences using an appositive and correct punctuation.

The girl beat me in the race. She is an Olympic runner.

Let’s Practice!Combine these two simple sentences using an appositive and correct punctuation.

The state park is in Utah. It is a

national landmark.

What are Absolutes?

• An absolute shows the relationship between two sentences when one is superior or more important than the other.– Example: I sat in the desk. My eyes were drooping.

• When you have this relationship, you can combine the two sentences using a comma.– Example: I sat in the desk, my eyes drooping.

How do we know if we have an absolute? We don’t want to just run around combining sentences incorrectly!

• In order to see if the relationship between two sentences constitutes an absolute, look at the second sentence in the pair. Does this sentence include a form of the verb “to be”?– Example: I sat in the desk. My eyes were drooping.

• Verb chart for forms of “to be”:

How do we know if we have an absolute? We don’t want to just run around combining sentences incorrectly!

• If that second sentence has a form of the verb “to be”, remove that verb.– Example: I sat in the desk. My eyes were drooping.

• Now replace the period with a comma, change the uppercase letter at the start of the second sentence into a lower case letter, and you have a sentence made by combining absolutes!– Example: I sat in the desk, my eyes drooping.

What if I have to remove MORE than just the verb?

• Sometimes this will be the case. In some cases, such as when the subject is the same and is repeated in both sentences, you will have to remove both the verb form of “to be” and the repeated subject.– Example:

• She kicked me in the shin. She was laughing the whole time.

• She kicked me in the shin, she was laughing the whole time.

• She kicked me in the shin, laughing the whole time.

Can we ever have an absolute where the second sentence doesn’t include “to be”?• Yes. In these cases, you will have to change the forms of

the verbs in the second sentence and remove some words.• You will start by removing the subject in the second

sentence if it is a repeat of the one in the first sentence (see below).

• You will then change the form of the verb to present tense (-ing) instead of past tense (-ed, -d)

• Example:– Jamie was tired. She trudged home from school.– Jamie was tired, she trudged home from school.– Jamie was tired, she trudging home from school.– Jamie was tired, trudging home from school.

Who Cares?• This should be obvious, but learning how to

combine absolutes gives you more advanced and interesting sentence structure.

• Also, knowing when to use commas is always a challenge and now you have another way of decoding that mystery.

Let’s Practice!Determine whether these two sentences are absolutes and then combine them using correct

grammar and punctuation.

The boy jumped on the bed. His face

was fixed in a permanent smile.

Let’s Practice!Determine whether these two sentences are absolutes and then combine them using

correct grammar and punctuation.

The sunlight woke up the boy. The streams of light were shining

in his eyes.

Let’s Practice!Determine whether these two sentences are absolutes and then combine them using

correct grammar and punctuation.

The bird sang on the branch. Her tune was

jovial and chipper.

Let’s Practice!Determine whether these two sentences are absolutes and then combine them using

correct grammar and punctuation.

She was so proud of herself. She was

singing beautifully.

Let’s Practice!Determine whether these two sentences are absolutes and then combine them using

correct grammar and punctuation.

The alarm clock wakes me up. The noise is

filling the entire room.

Let’s Practice!Determine whether these two sentences are absolutes and then combine them using

correct grammar and punctuation.

The house burned throughout the night.

The flames were licking at the bricks.

Let’s Practice!Determine whether these two sentences are absolutes and then combine them using

correct grammar and punctuation.

The dog barked. He woke up the entire

neighborhood.

Let’s Practice!Determine whether these two sentences are absolutes and then combine them using

correct grammar and punctuation.

The princess sat quietly in her tower. She waited for her

prince.

Let’s Practice!Determine whether these two sentences are absolutes and then combine them using

correct grammar and punctuation.

The student got the answer right. Tears of

joy were streaming down her face.

Let’s Practice!Determine whether these two sentences are absolutes and then combine them using

correct grammar and punctuation.

The noise cut through the night. Every

corner was echoing the sound.

Let’s Practice!Determine whether these two sentences are absolutes and then combine them using

correct grammar and punctuation.

The runners took first place. They passed the finish line far ahead of the rest.