What is the difference between adjectives and appositives?

Question

They seem like the same thing to me

Answer 1

Hi Dan--

 

They're definitely not the same thing. An appositive is a noun or a noun phrase/clause that further defines another noun.

 

For example: "Dan, a hardworking student, had a grammar question."

 

In this case the phrase 'a hardworking student' is the appositive to the noun 'Dan.'

 

An adjective is not set off like that. For example, "Dan is a hardworking student."

 

In that case, "hardworking" is the adjective that modifies the noun 'student.'

 

Hope this helps. Keep working hard. :-)

 

Matt in New York