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Grammarholic Posted 11 years ago
Grammar

Appositives

My brother Bill, my daughter Emily, and my wife Cassandra will be at the meeting tonight.

The nonrestrictive appositive rule states that if I have ONE brother, ONE sister and ONE wife, as in the sentence above, I would have to do this: My brother, Bill; my daughter, Emily; and my wife, Cassandra, will be at the meeting tonight. Do I have to do it this way?

Can I write it like this instead?

My brother Bill, my daughter Emily, and my wife Cassandra will be at the meeting tonight.
  

Top answer

My brother Bill, my daughter Emily, and my wife Cassandra will be at the meeting tonight. Yes

  • My brother Bill, my daughter Emily, and my wife Cassandra will be at the meeting tonight.
  • Yes
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6 Answers
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GrammarholicCan I write it like this instead?My brother Bill, my daughter Emily, and my wife Cassandra will be at the meeting tonight.
Yes
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In similar fashion, I could write the following thus?

I will ask my husband Bob. (No comma before Bob?)

My husband Bob will preside at the meeting.
(Not: My husband, Bob, will preside at the meeting.)

Are these two okay as punctuated without the commas?

.....thanks!!!:)....
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GrammarholicI will ask my husband Bob.
"I will ask my husband, Bob" would look as if you were addressing a person named Bob.
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That is exactly what I mean!

Why do these stupid nonrestrictive rules exist, then?
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Historically, there was no such rule when it came to writing people's names, so it must be a fairly recent invention. In my opinion, inserting those extra commas/semicolons often adds nothing but unnecessary clutter to the sentence.
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No doubt.

Thank you, ozzourti.

Emotion: smile

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