+398.+ We sometimes use words which do not belong in the construction of
a sentence to explain other words in the sentence. For example:
We, _the undersigned_, subscribe as follows:
Helen Keller, _the most wonderful woman of this age_, champions the
cause of the working class.
In the first sentence, the words, _the undersigned_, are added to the
pronoun _we_ to explain who _we_ means. In the second sentence, the
words, _the most wonderful woman of this age_, are added to explain who
Helen Keller is. Words added to other words in this way are called
explanatory words. They are placed in apposition to the noun which they
explain. Apposition means _by the side of_, or _in position near_. You
remember that in clauses we found that a clause may be placed in
apposition with a noun to explain the meaning of that noun. For example:
There is an old saying, _in union there is strength_.
These words in apposition may themselves be modified or limited by other
words or phrases or clauses. For example:
Helen Keller, the most wonderful woman of this age, champions the
cause of the working class.
In this sentence, _woman_ is the noun placed in apposition to the
particular name, Helen Keller, and the noun _woman_ is modified by the
adjectives _the_, and _wonderful_, and by the phrase _of this age_.
Sometimes a second explanatory word is placed in apposition to the first
one. This is quite often the case in legal documents or resolutions,
where the language is quite formal. For example:
We, the undersigned, _members of Local No. 38_, do hereby move, etc.
I, John Smith, _Notary Public_, in and for the county of Clay, etc.
These words, _undersigned_ and _members_, are both placed in apposition
to the pronoun _We_, explaining to whom that pronoun refers.