How to Use Appositives to Clarify Your Sentences

Khan Academy

This educational video provides a clear and accessible introduction to the grammatical concept of the appositive. Hosted by two narrators, David and Paige, the lesson demystifies this complex-sounding term by breaking down its etymology and function. Using a digital whiteboard format, the hosts visually demonstrate how appositives serve as noun phrases that rename, redefine, or clarify an antecedent noun within a sentence. They specifically focus on the punctuation rules associated with appositives, showing how commas act as essential separators to set off this clarifying information from the rest of the sentence. The video explores two primary sentence structures: one where the appositive appears in the middle of a sentence, and another where it appears at the end. Through relatable examples—like describing a sister going to college or lamenting a discontinued snack called "Cookie Cat"—the narrators illustrate how appositives add detail without altering the core grammatical structure of the main clause. The visual component uses color-coding to distinguish the appositive phrase from the rest of the sentence, making the syntactic relationship clear for viewers. For educators, this video serves as an excellent tool for teaching sentence variety and punctuation. It addresses the common student struggle of knowing when to use commas, providing a concrete rule (the appositive) that students can apply immediately to their own writing. By mastering appositives, students can write more sophisticated sentences that combine ideas efficiently, moving beyond simple subject-verb-object structures to more complex, information-rich writing.