We explain what an apposition in a sentence is, what it is for and the characteristics of each type according to its function and structure.
What are appositions?
In linguistics, is called apposition to a syntactic construction in which, in a prayer, two grammatical elements are united in an unconventional way, that is, without the need for a nexus or a connector, and one of which explains or completes the other.
Usually, appositions are used to modify the nuclei of noun phrases, adding content through juxtaposition, the introduction of commas or prepositions such as "of". For example, in the sentence:
"The Liberator Bolívar was born in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela."
We have two examples of appositions: “Bolívar”, introduced to add information to the name of the sentence subject (El Libertador) and thus specify who is being spoken of; and on the other hand "capital of Venezuela", which after a comma adds information about the name of the city.
Now, depending on the type of function and the structure they present, appositions can be of two different types:
Single or specific appositions, in which there is no phonic pause (represented by commas in the writing), and that consists of the union of:
- Two common nouns, one of which presents a figurative or evaluative meaning, for example: “Did you see yourself with that thief lawyer? " or the prophet king He will address his people ”.
- A common noun and then a own name, fulfilling an evident specifying role, for example: "The Danube river flows from west to east "or" The Professor Vargas he was run over ”.
- A proper noun and then a common noun, in which gender and number concordance between the nouns is usually found, always in the third person. For example in Buenos Aires city five million people live ”.
Double or explanatory appositions, in which the terms are separated by commas, parentheses or phonic pauses of another type. Sometimes they can present prepositions. In this case, both terms must necessarily refer to the same referent. This type of apposition can be formed by:
- A proper name and then a title or common name, which explains who the first is, for example: “You just arrived Delacroix, Duke of Brittany"Or" That over there is Bermudez, my teacher of English".
- A title or common name and then a proper name, which operates in the same way as the previous one, but reversed, for example: “El then Dad, Pius XII, blessed the German troops "or" That sheep, DollyIt was the first clone in history ”.
- A common name and another common or equivalent name, not always concordant in gender and number, for example: “La woman, a romanian, danced on stage "or"Me, the down signatory, I accept the terms of the contract ”.