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Bluejay Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

Appositives

The goals are clear: breathable air and drinkable water.

Are air and water in apposition with goals? Thank you.
  

Top answer

I doubt it, because appositives are normally juxtaposed to the referent noun or are at least on the same side of the verb as the referent noun is, and they are generally non-restrictive. The colon makes this difficult, but it could be replaced by a comma, and that would make them predicate nominatives, I think.

— Mister Micawber

  • I doubt it, because appositives are normally juxtaposed to the referent noun or are at least on the same side of the verb as the referent noun is, and they are generally non-restrictive.
  • The colon makes this difficult, but it could be replaced by a comma, and that would make them predicate nominatives, I think.
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4 Answers
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I doubt it, because appositives are normally juxtaposed to the referent noun or are at least on the same side of the verb as the referent noun is, and they are generally non-restrictive. The colon makes this difficult, but it could be replaced by a comma, and that would make them predicate nominatives, I think.
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The goals, breathable air and drinkable water, were clear.

That uses apposition.
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Thank you. After reviewing the sentence, I was getting ready to post what you already did--that they might be predicate nominatives even though separated by the colon. But a new question arises: "clear" is the predicate adjective, right? So does this mean that the subject of the sentence "goals" has both predicate adjective and predicate nominatives?

Thanks, again.
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So does this mean that the subject of the sentence "goals" has both predicate adjective and predicate nominatives?-- I have not seen it written up, but I suppose so: He was tall and handsome, a real man.
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