Exercise in Expanding Sentences With Appositives

This exercise will give you practice in building and expanding sentences with appositives. Before attempting the exercise, you may find it helpful to review these articles and exercises:

• What Is an Appositive?
• Building Sentences with Appositives
• Exercise in Sentence Building with Appositives

Using the examples as a guide, expand each sentence or word group below according to the instructions in parentheses.

Example 1

• For two years I lived in a one-room basement apartment.
  (Add an appositive that further describes this apartment.)


• For two years I lived in a one-room basement apartment, a rat’s nest with a depressing view of shoes, paws, and dog poop.

Example 2

Of course, there's no single set of correct answers to this exercise. Rely on your imagination to create details that are vivid and precise.

Tip: To view this exercise without ads, click on the print icon near the top of the page.

Exercise in Expanding Sentences With Appositives

1. Today we had lunch at the Moonwinks Diner.
   (Add an appositive that tells something more about either the lunch or the diner.)


2. the best movie I have ever seen
   (Use this word group as an appositive in a sentence that identifies the movie.)


3. I have difficulty communicating with my supervisor.
   (Add an appositive that describes the supervisor and suggests why communication is difficult.)


4. the saddest sound I have ever heard
   (Use this word group as an appositive in a sentence that identifies the sound.)


5. I lay back in the grass and gazed up in wonder at the sky.
   (Add an appositive that describes the sky.)


6. the most peculiar person I have ever known
   (Use this word group as an appositive in a sentence that identifies the person and offers an example of his or her peculiar behavior.)


7. Last Saturday I took the children to the shopping mall to see Santa Claus.
   (Add an appositive that describes the mall Santa--or your perception of him.)


8. a wall-shuddering, brain-damaging noise that broke every pane of glass in the house
   (Use this word group as an appositive in a sentence that identifies the source of this sound.)


9. Last night I stayed home with Henry and watched TV.
   (Add an appositive that identifies which program--or episode of a program--you watched.)


10. a sarcastic and insensitive person
    (Use this word group as an appositive in a sentence that identifies the person and illustrates his or her behavior.)