What are Appositives and Appositive Phrases?

What is an appositive?

An appositive is a word that renames a noun and is used to give more information to a sentence.

Examples
1. One of our most influential writers, Maxine Hong Kingston, has increased people’s awareness of the contributions of Asians in America.

"Maxine Hong Kingston" is an appositive, which renames the subject of the sentence ("one of our most influential writers") and gives us more information.

2. She first came to prominence with her treatise on her early life in California’s Central Valley, The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts.

The title of the book is an appositive, which renames the noun "treatise" and gives us more information.

What is an appositive phrase?
An appositive phrase is a group of words used together to rename a noun. It consists of the noun that makes the appositive and its modifiers.

Example
Asa Philip Randolph, a union organizer and leader of the Civil Rights Movement, worked to address the problems of black laborers.

"A union organizer and leader of the Civil Rights Movement" is an appositive phrase that gives us more information about the subject of the sentence.

Notice:

Appositives and appositive phrases are set off from the sentence by commas.
An appositive phrase can be removed from a sentence and the remaining sentence will still be complete.