Apposition?
A-Is this sentence correct:
A1-You decided to take Hopkins with you, a rookie.
B-Isn't this sentence ambiguous:
B1-Hastings was standing next to Sarah, a doctor.
(Normally Sarah would be understood to be the doctor, but I think if "Hastings" is accentuated, then he would be the doctor.)
Top answer
A - No. The appositive is hanging out in space. " An appositive always attaches to the noun or pronoun immediately before it.
- A - No.
- The appositive is hanging out in space.
- " An appositive always attaches to the noun or pronoun immediately before it.
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A - No. The appositive is hanging out in space. It has to be next to its partner: "You decided to take Hopkins, a rookie, with you." If "a rookie" was meant to apply to "you", it would have to be with the first "you": "You, a rookie, decided to take Hopkins with you."
B - Same thing: "Hastings, a doctor, was standing next to Sarah." An appositive always attaches to the noun or pronoun im
0You decided to take Hopkins with you, a rookie.
Hastings was standing next to Sarah, a doctor.
The salient interpretation is that "a rookie" refers to the referent of "you", and that "a doctor" refers to Sarah (irrespective of any accentuation).
That being the case, it's tempting to say that "a rookie" and "a doctor" are apposit
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