Appositive Brushstrokes

3rd Brushstroke

  An appositive is zooming in on a noun, using a, an, or the. 

Simple Sentence: The man walked up the stairs. 

Here, man and stairs would be the two nouns we could potentially zoom in on. The man, a tired accountant, walked up the stairs. The brushstroke describes the man, so it's a clearer picture. Instead of describing the man, I could also talk about the stairs. 

The man walked up the stairs, a tight space located in the side of the building. You could go either way, which ever is easier. 

The first example, that described the man, was a simpler version of an appositive, but usually if you want to add a little more background or detail, you would use the appositive the way I did in the second sentence/example.

Also, I could use the appositive with a "the".
For example, Jack walked up to Dan.
Jack, the faithful captain of the Knights team, walked up to Dan.
**Additional note: separate the brushstroke and the simple sentence with two commas. One after the noun that is being described and then one after the appositive. If the appositive is at the end of the sentence, then just put the comma after the noun, and a period at the end of the appositive.