Understanding appositives

Question

I'm having problems understanding appositives.For instance, what do the following two sentences imply?1) Paul's sister Louise is getting married.2) Paul's sister, Louise, is getting married.Thank you.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

teal lime
I'm having problems understanding appositives.
For instance, what do the following two sentences imply?
1) Paul's sister Louise is getting married.
2) Paul's sister, Louise, is getting married.
Thank you.

I don't use the commas in these cases. I don't see that there is any difference in meaning (or implied meaning) whether you add commas or not, so I consider them a useless clutter.

Some people, however, think that the fact that "Louise" is the name of Paul's sister is made more important in 1) and less important in 2). They say that the commas make the words between them seem less important. That may be true in the general case, but I don't think it applies when the element in commas simply names the element before the expression in commas.

his sister Louise / the planet Jupiter / my friend William

There is also the possibility that some people prefer the commas when "Louise" is the only sister that Paul has. That way the addition of "Louise" is really not necessary. But that involves knowing the family, so I don't think it should come into the choice of punctuation.

Take a look at this link:

https://data.grammarbook.com/blog/commas/commas-with-appositives/

CJ

Understanding appositives

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