English business 2

Ms. Chintia Handayani

Meeting 6

INCOMPLETE OR MISSING APPOSITIVES

An appositive is a noun phrase that explains or rephrases another noun phrase. It usually
comes after the noun which it rephrases. It may also come before the subject of a sentence.

Buffalo Bill, a famous frontiersman, operated his own Wild West Show.

(appositive following a noun)

A famous frontiersman, Buffalo Bill operated his own Wild West Show.

(appositive before the subject)

Appositives are actually reduced adjective clauses. However, unlike adjective clauses,
they do not contain a marker or a verb.

Oak, which is one of the most durable hardwoods, is often used to make furniture.

(adjective clause)

Oak, one of the most durable hardwoods, is often used to make furniture.

(appositive)

Appositives are usually separated from the rest of the sentence by commas, but some
short appositives (usually names) are not.

Economist Paul Samuelson won a Nobel Prize in 1970.

In Structure items. all or part of an appositive phrase may be missing. In addition, the
noun that the appositive refers to or other parts of the main clause may be missing.

Sample Item
The National Road, _______ of the first highways in North America, connected the East
Coast to the Ohio Valley.
(A) which one
(B) it was one
(C) one
(D) was one

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Ms. Chintia Handayani
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Choice (A) is incorrect; there is no verb in the relative clause. Choice (B) has no connecting
word to join the clause to the rest of the sentence. Choice (D) is incorrect because a verb cannot
be used in an appositive phrase. Note: which was one would also be a correct answer.

BE CAREFULL OF APPOSITIVES

Appositives can cause confusion in structure questions on the TOEFL test because an
appositive can be mistaken for the subject of a sentence. An appositive is a noun that comes
before or after another noun and has the same meaning.

In this example Sally is the subject of the sentence and the best student in the class can
easily be recognized as an appositive phrase because of the noun student and because of the
commas. The sentence says that Sally and the best student in the class are the same person.
Note that if you leave out the appositive phrase, the sentence still makes sense (Sally got an A
on the exam).

The following example shows how an appositive can be confused with the subject of a
sentence in structure questions on the TOEFL test.

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Ms. Chintia Handayani
Meeting 6

In this example you should recognize from the commas that George is not the subject
of the sentence. George is an appositive, because this sentence still needs a subject, the best
answer is (D), my friend. Answer (A), (B), and (C) are incorrect because they are not subjects.

The next example shows that an appositive does not always come after the subject; an
appositive can also come at the beginning of the sentence.

In this example you can tell that Sarah is the subject and misses is the verb because
there is no comma separating them. In the space you should put an appositive for Sarah, and
Sarah is an excellent basketball player, so answer (A) is the best answer. Answer (B) and (C)
are not correct because they each contain the verb is, and an appositive does not need a verb.
Answer (D) contains a noun, play, that could possibly be an appositive, but play is not the
same as Sarah, so this answer is not correct.

EXERCISE 1.1
Focus: In the exercise below, each sentence has several underlined words, phrases, or clauses.
The four underlined parts of the sentence are marked (A), (B), (C) and (D). Identify the one
underlined word or phrase or clause that belong to the appositive. Then, choose that one word
or phrase or clause.
Example:

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Explanation:
At the above example, the subject is the word ‘Anna’. The phrase ‘His friend’ is an
appositive. The appositive and the subject are separated by comma. The sentence says that
the phrase ‘His friend’ and ‘Anna’ are the same person. If you leave out the phrase ‘His
friend’, the sentence still makes sense.

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Ms. Chintia Handayani
Meeting 6

Exercise 2.0
Focus: Completing structure problems involving appositives. (Note: The focus for one or two
items in these exercises is not appositives; these sentences are marked in the answer key with
asterisks.)
Directions: Choose the one option-(A), (B), (C), or (D)-that correctly completes the sentences,
and then mark the appropriate blank. The first one is done as an example.

1. The Democratic Party is older than the other major American political party, _________.
___ (A) which the Republican party
_√__ (B) the Republican party
___ (C) it is the Republican party
___ (D) the Republican party is

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Meeting 6

2.__________ relations with friends and acquaintances, play a major role in the social
development of adolescents.
___ (A) What are called peer group relations are
___ (B) Peer group relations are
___ (C) Peer group relations, the
___ (D) By peer group relations, we mean

3. Joseph Henry, _______ first director of the Smithsonian Institute, was President Lincoln's
advisor on scientific matters.
__ (A) the
__ (B) to be the
__ (C) was the
__ (D) as the

4. The Wassatch Range, _________ extends from southeastern Idaho into northern Utah.
___ (A) which is a part of the Rocky Mountains,
___ (B) a part of the Rocky Mountains that
___ (C) is a part of the Rocky Mountains
___ (D) a part of the Rocky Mountains, it

5. _________ Ruth St. Dennis turned to Asian dances to find inspiration for her
choreography.
___ (A) It was the dancer
___ (B) The dancer
___ (C) That the dancer
___ (D) The dancer was

6. The organs of taste are the ________ which are mainly located on the tongue.
___ (A) groups of cells, are taste buds
___ (B) taste buds, are groups of cells
___ (C) taste buds, these are groups of cells
___ (D) taste buds, groups of cells

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Ms. Chintia Handayani
Meeting 6

7. In 1878 Frederick W Taylor invented a concept called scientific management, ______ of

obtaining as much efficiency from workers and machines as possible.
___ (A) it is a method
___ (B) a method which
___ (C) a method
___ (D) called a method

8. A group of Shakers, ________ settled around Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, in 1805.

___ (A) members of a strict religious sect which
___ (B) whose members of a strict religious sect
___ (C) members of a strict religious sect,
___ (D) were members of a strict religious sect

9. In physics, _______ "plasma" refers to a gas which has a nearly equal number of positively
and negatively charged particles.
___ (A) the term
___ (B) by the term
___ (C) is termed
___ (D) terming

10. Norman Weiner, ________ mathematician and logician, had an important role in the
development of the computer.
___ (A) who, as a
__ (B) was a
__ (C) whom a
__ (D) a

11. Jerome Kern's most famous work is Showboat, ______ most enduring musical comedies.
___ (A) it is one of the i1nest,
___ (B) one of the finest,
___ (C) the finest one
___ (D) as the finest of the

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Ms. Chintia Handayani
Meeting 6

12. _________ a marshland that covers over 750 square miles in North Carolina and Virginia.
___ (A) In the Great Dismal Swamp,
___ (B) The Great Dismal Swamp, which
___ (C) The Great Dismal Swamp,
___ (D) The Great Dismal Swamp is