THE APPOSITIVE PHRASE
=Function.=--As a means of avoiding a predication, perhaps no other
sentence-element is oftener employed than the appositive phrase; as,
“They have the genius for hard work--_the most desirable kind of
genius_.” The appositive is a very loosely joined adjunct, but its
position in the sentence and the frequency of its use make its relation
easily intelligible.
The appositive phrase comes about in this way. The sentence quoted
above really amounts to two independent propositions; namely, They have
the genius for hard work, and, The genius for hard work is the most
desirable kind of genius. These propositions joined into a closely
built sentence with proper subordination might read thus,--They have
the genius for hard work, which is the most desirable kind of genius.
Here we have an unrestrictive adjective clause.
The important part of this clause, the only part that adds anything
new to the sentence, is the complement, _the most desirable kind of
genius_. The subject _which_ merely represents a previous word, and the
verb _is_ is only a link between the subject and its attribute, the
complement. These two words help in the grammatical structure of the
proposition, but since they are easily supplied by a reader, they may
just as well be omitted, as in fact is often the case. This brings the
really important words into a position next to what they explain or
describe, but without any relation-words between them. A group of words
so used is called an appositive phrase. The base-word of the phrase,
usually a noun, is called a noun in apposition.
In general the appositive is not a necessary element of the sentence.
So far as the truth of the statement and the grammatical structure of
the sentence are concerned, it may be omitted. Sometimes, however, it
is joined to a noun to point out a special individual or class, when it
resembles the restrictive adjective clause; as, “It is quite true that
practical life is a kind of long, competitive examination, conducted by
that severe pedagogue, Professor Circumstance.”--_Huxley._
* * * * *
=The Base-Word of an Appositive Phrase.=--When the base-word of an
appositive phrase is a noun, it gives another name for something,
and so makes that thing more fully known by revealing another of
its attributes; as, “We turn to commemorate the genius and virtues
of John Milton, the poet, the statesman, the philosopher, the glory
of English literature, the champion and the martyr of English
liberty.”--_Macaulay._
Attributes are just as often told by adjectives as by nouns, hence we
find many appositive adjectives; as,
“At the first glimpse he thought it a dog--_long, lean, skulking,
prowling, tawny_--on the scent of his tracks.”--_J. L. Allen._ The
adjectives are an abridgment of an unrestrictive adjective clause, just
as appositive nouns are.
Besides the noun and the adjective, the base-word of an appositive
phrase may be,--
(_a_) A reflexive pronoun; as, “The old Professor _himself_ sometimes
visited the house after it had changed hands.”--_Holmes._ This pronoun
does not explain or describe in the least. It is put into the sentence
for emphasis.
(_b_) A personal pronoun. This forms a convenient word to add a phrase
or clause to; as,
“How good it was of him
To mind a slender man like me,
_He of the mighty limb_.”--_Holmes._
(_c_) A pronominal adjective. This does not explain. It has not
sufficient meaning in itself for that. Like the personal pronoun it
is to be modified by some phrase or other sentence-element that has
meaning; as, “On a gently rising ground in the heart of the city
rises St. Paul’s, _one_ of the largest churches in the world, and a
masterpiece of Wren, _one_ of the greatest architects.” In neither
place here does _one_ mean anything until it is modified by the phrase
telling class.
Such an appositive may serve many purposes. In the following sentence
from Lowell, “The poetry of the Danes was _much of it_ authentic
history,” it narrows the scope of what it modifies,--_the poetry of the
Danes_.
(_d_) The infinitive. See Chapter XX.
(_e_) The gerund. See Chapter XXII.
(_f_) The participle. When a participial phrase is clearly an
abridgment of an unrestrictive adjective clause, it may be said to be
in apposition; as,
“All are architects of Fate,
_Working in these walls of Time_.”--_Longfellow._
(_g_) The noun clause. See Chapter VII.
* * * * *
=Words that take an Appositive Modifier.=--The appositive is usually
added to a noun, but not always. A pronoun may be made definite in
its application by an appositive; thus, “_We_ are doing the English
cathedral towns, _Aunt Celia and I_.”--_Mrs. Wiggin._
NOTE.--In the following sentence from Wordsworth,--
“But oh, ye fountains, meadows, hills, and groves,
Forebode not any severing of our loves,”
many would consider the nouns in the first line as appositives of
_ye_. It seems better to consider _ye_ as filling the office of a
limiting adjective. If we spoke _about_ the fountains, we would say
_these fountains_; speaking _to_ them it is usage to employ the
pronoun _ye_ in the place of _these_.
Occasionally we find an adjective, adverb, phrase, or clause, explained
by some sort of appositive; as, “Active and sprightly people are
called _mercurial_, that is, _born under the planet Mercury_.” Here a
participial phrase is in apposition with the adjective _mercurial_.
The appositive may even be used to explain a predicate, a use in
which it very much resembles one use of the adjective clause; as,
“The surplus beyond what was required for the support of the national
worship was distributed in alms among the poor; _a duty strenuously
prescribed by their moral code_.”--_Prescott._
* * * * *
=Introductory Word.=--The appositive is frequently introduced or
brought into the sentence by such words or expressions as _namely_,
_to wit_, _as_, _that is_, _or, in other words_; as, “The whale is a
mammal, _that is_, a warm-blooded, air-breathing animal that suckles
its young.”
The introductory _as_ is useful in limiting the application of a noun,
signifying that it is to be considered only to the extent denoted by
the appositive; as, “To the Esquimaux, the auk, _as an article of
food_, is second in importance only to the seal.”
With this restrictive office _as_ often introduces an appositive to
a possessive pronoun; as, “As _masters your_ first object must be to
increase your power.”--_Ruskin._ It will readily be seen that _masters_
is an appositive of _your_ if the sentence is changed thus, “The first
object of you, as masters, must be, etc.”
_Such as_ or _as_ often brings in the names of several individuals
belonging to a certain class; thus, “The leaves and tender twigs are an
agreeable food to many domestic animals, _as_ the cow, horse, sheep,
and goat.”--_Thoreau._
A noun whose meaning is broad may have two appositives, specific in
meaning, joined by _or_ and introduced by _whether_; as, “There is
always something to see about a church, _whether living worshipers or
dead men’s tombs_.”--_Stevenson._
* * * * *
=Case and Number of the Noun in Apposition.=--The appositive noun is
usually in the same case as the noun it explains, but often when it
is joined to a possessive noun, the possessive case ending is dropped
from the first noun for the sake of euphony, and added only to the
appositive.
In number an appositive usually agrees with its noun, but not always;
for example, “The _priests_ were _each_ devoted to the service of some
particular deity.”
* * * * *
=Position of the Appositive Phrase.=--Usually the appositive follows
immediately the group of words it explains; but sometimes the two are
separated by intervening words; thus, “_These votive pictures_ are no
less interesting _as works of art_ than as expressions of hopeless
superstition.”--_Howells._
Sometimes the appositive begins a sentence; as,
“_One burnished sheet of living gold_,
Loch Katrine lay beneath him rolled.”--_Scott._
“_Calm, strong, and nobly aglow with love of country_, he has no need
of going into paroxysms in order to prove his sincerity.”--_Boyesen._
Exercise 29
Dispose of all appositives in the following sentences.
1. As a composition the Declaration is Mr. Jefferson’s.--_Webster._
2. There is one topic peremptorily forbidden to all well-bred, to all
rational mortals, namely, their distempers.--_Emerson._
3. Long before I had dealings with him, I knew him by the superb song,
or rather incantation, with which he announced his coming on the Grand
Canal.--_Howells._
4. He made his Masque what it ought to be, essentially lyrical and
dramatic only in semblance.--_Macaulay._
5. Do I not remember the time when I myself haunted the
station?--_Stevenson._
6. Grandchild of Henri Quatre, niece of Louis XIII., cousin of Louis
XIV., first princess of the blood, and with the largest income in the
nation (500,000 livres) to support these dignities, Mademoiselle was
certainly born in the purple.--_Higginson._
7. Two kinds of men make good teachers--young men and men who never
grow old.--_C. W. Eliot._
8. Devils, thicker than tiles on housetops, scare him not from his
work.--_Motley._
9. Unostentatious illustrations of divine power, such as healing the
sick, opening the eyes of the blind, or the ears of the deaf, were not
enough.--_Geikie._
10. Punctuality must be cultivated by all who would succeed in any
calling, whether lofty or humble.
11. The old Norse poets were many of them natives of
Iceland.--_Carlyle._
12. The bold assertions of these people have of late impressed a
large portion of the public with an opinion that James the Second was
expelled simply because he was a Catholic, and that the Revolution was
essentially a Protestant Revolution.--_Macaulay._
13. Restless, sleepless, unable to read, tired of sitting, driven
on by the desire to get rid of his own thoughts, he started out to
walk.--_J. L. Allen._
14. We none of us spoke of money, because that subject savored
of commerce and trade, and though some might be poor we were all
aristocratic.--_Mrs. Gaskell._
15. The question must have raised the sense of His supreme right as
consecrated Son of God.--_Geikie._
16. The refined formality with which the literary product of Provence
is for the most part stamped as with a trade mark, was doubtless
the legacy of Gallo-Roman culture, itself at best derivative and
superficial.--_Lowell._
17. This was Blomidon, simple, majestic, inspiring.--_Bolles._
18. He was an accomplished scholar intimately acquainted with the
languages and literatures of continental Europe.
19. They have all had a truth in them or men would not have taken them
up.--_Carlyle._
20. You Americans, he said, wear too much expression on your
faces.--_Wm. James._
Exercise 30
Analyze the following sentences.
1. Throughout this period, Rousseau was, for the last time in his
life, at peace with most of his fellows.--_Morley._
2. In life it is difficult to say who does the most mischief--enemies
with the worst intentions, or friends with the best.--_Bulwer._
3. For men of force are generally men of faults.
4. Close under the eastern foot of Gerizim, at the opening of the side
valley from the wide plain, on a slight knoll, a mile and a half from
the town, surrounded now by stones and broken pillars, is Jacob’s
Well.--_Geikie._
5. Prudence had kept him away from the other girl, but he was feeling
a great want; some one to applaud him.--_Barrie._
6. Self-reliance, self-restraint, self-control, self-direction, these
constitute an educated will.--_J. F. Clarke._
7. The aspect of the venerable mansion has always affected me like a
human countenance.--_Hawthorne._
8. Farewell, ye vanishing flowers, that shone
In my fairy wreath, so bright and brief.--_Moore._
9. What was it that filled the ears of the prophets of old but
the distant tread of foreign armies, coming to do the work of
justice?--_George Eliot._
10. A woman kept the summer school, sharp, precise, unsympathetic,
keen and untiring.--_Beecher._
11. The street-lamps always burn; but scarce a casement
In house or palace front from roof to basement
Doth glow or gleam athwart the mirk air cast.--_James Thomson._
12. Men dress their children’s minds as they do their bodies, in the
prevailing fashion.--_Spencer._
13. The choice of Capernaum by Jesus as his future center was
significant.--_Geikie._
14. But his marvelous moral beauty, even as a child, attracted the
attention of the Emperor Hadrian.--_Lord._
15. Facts and the consequences of facts draw the writer back to
the falconer’s lure from the giddiest heights of speculation.--_De
Quincey._
16. The northern curve of the rock basin’s wall was broken by a narrow
perpendicular rift, reaching from the sky down to within sixty or
eighty feet of the surface of the pool.--_Bolles._
17. She starts, and is lost sight of round the cliff, gone straight
away for the very ends of the world.--_Jefferies._
18. A veteran American sailor, he had learned to know the great Gulf
as scholars know deep books by heart.--_Hearn._
19. We come, as Americans, to mark a spot which must forever be dear
to us and our posterity.--_Webster._
20. Two of them were guests like ourselves, both men of the
north.--_Stevenson._
21. Indeed, man is naturally more prone to subtlety than open
valor, owing to his physical weakness in comparison with other
animals.--_Irving._
22. Kotick was the only one who asked questions, and none of his
companions could tell him anything except that the men always
drove seals in that way for six weeks or two months of every
year.--_Kipling._
23. As compared with the two other writers, Epictetus shortens his
sword; that is, his sentences.--_Higginson._