My mom & I are having trouble with appositives & predicate nominatives which function as nouns. We would like a definition or description of how to recognize them. Thanks!

3 answers

Here are two sites that are excellent explanations:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/596/1

http://www.geocities.com/mshayes611/Predicate_Nominatives.htm

The easiest explanation is this example.

My brother, Tom, is a pest. <G>

Tom is the noun following the subject brother that identifies "brother". Pest is a noun after the "being verb" is... which is identical to brother.

A predicate noun is always after a LINKING VERB.

An appositive is always right after the noun that it identifies.
http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/appositive.htm

http://www.grammaruntied.com/nouns/PredicateN.html
Study these sites.

http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/appositive.htm

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/596/1

http://www.geocities.com/mshayes611/Predicate_Nominatives.htm

http://www.geocities.com/mshayes611/Predicate_Nominatives.htm

(Broken Link Removed)