Appositive or not?

English grammar questions, answered by Alan

Moderator: Alan

Locked
Jazst
Member
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Feb 19, 2013 7:20 pm
Status: Learner of English

Appositive or not?

Post by Jazst »

Is Tom a restrictive appositive in the sentence below? I know it would be a nonrestrictive appositive if it were set off by commas, but I'm not so sure about this sentence.



"Mary's other brother Tom is a barber." (As opposed to her first brother Tom; she has two brothers named Tom.)
User avatar
Alan
Teacher/Moderator
Teacher/Moderator
Posts: 15204
Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2003 7:56 pm
Status: Teacher of English
Location: Japan

Re: Appositive or not?

Post by Alan »

Technically, yes. In practice, however, even when the intended reference is nonrestrictive, natives tend to omit commas where it is expected that sense/shared knowledge should be sufficient for the addressee to be aware of the fact.

I would, therefore, advise against relying too literally on any such expression!
Locked