Absolutes, Appositives, and Participial Phrases Appositives: English 120 Spring 2004 E. Malsam
Absolutes, Appositives, and Participial Phrases Appositives: English 120 Spring 2004 E. Malsam
Spring 2004
E. Malsam
The house we had just bought, a sprawling and dilapidated monstrosity, was going to eat up all our savings.
The cafs best selling coffee, a triple shot of espresso topped with steamed milk, costs only two dollars.
Dr. Einstein, my physics professor, is a great teacher.
Read through the examples to devise an answer to this question: What is an appositive? (Describe in
grammatical terms.) ___________________________________________________________
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Non restrictive vs. Restrictive Appositives
Non-restrictive: non essential to the meaning of the sentence, but provides more info about the main
subject (must be enclosed in commas)
Her Husband, Fritz, is a nice guy
Neil Armstrong, the first man who walked on the moon, is a native of Ohio.
Restrictive: identify the noun more closely- specify a noun (do not use commas)
My sister Samantha lives in England while my sister Tabatha works in Hong Kong.
Create three sentences, which use appositives, describing your favorite day of the week.
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Participial Phrases
The participial phrase includes the participial and the object of the participle or any words modified
by or related to the participle. (Commas are recommended for clarity.)
The car sliding out of control is headed towards the building.
The car is headed towards the building standing taller than empire state building.
English 120
Spring 2004
E. Malsam
Absolute Phrases
The absolute phrase does not modify or replace any particular part of a clause; it modifies the whole
clause. An absolute phrase includes a noun or pronoun and often includes a past or present participle
as well as modifiers. Nearly all modern prose writers rely on absolute phrases. Some style historians
consider them a hallmark of modern prose.
Her eyes glistening, Lucy checked out the case of doughnuts.
She stood patiently in line, her arms folded to control her hunger.
She walked slowly to a table, each hand bearing a treasure.