I’m Such an Optimist, I’m Appositive (Introduction)

Let me tell you how much of a grammar geek I really am.  Last summer, I treated myself and bought an iPad with a little extra money I had earned during summer vacation.  (When you live in Hawaii, you don’t have a lot of disposable income.  Sometimes getting a new toy like this feels like I’m saving money from a paper route.)  I have always had poor eyesight and it’s not getting any better in my middle years.  The print in books seemed to be getting smaller and smaller and I just didn’t enjoy reading nearly as much as I used to.  And then came the iPad.


Someone told me I could download a Kindle app for free, so instead of using the Apple iBook app, I decided to use the Amazon app for my primary reader.  (You can also download a Kindle app for your iPhone, which is a good back-up when you don’t have your iPad.*)  It has been so wonderful, it’s almost like I’ve learned to read all over again.  I read faster, my comprehension is better and I can read for hours.  I find myself, more and more, choosing to read rather than watch TV, which is pretty amazing considering my years as a TV addict.  I highly recommend an e-book reader for second-language learners.


So what does this have to do with me being a grammar geek?  Back in the dark ages, also known as B.I (before iPads),, when I read a traditional book, I would often find sentences that illustrated some grammar point that I was teaching in class and I’d think “Man, I should write this down and show it to my students.”  And then I’d keep reading, forget all about it and the moment would be lost forever.  (I really hate highlighting non-textbooks, which is a personal quirk, and writing in margins gives me the heebie-jeebies.  Plus, the lighting is usually bad at my desk, the book keeps closing itself, etc.  Too much hassle)  But now, with my iPad, I can simply highlight the sentence, keep reading and then transcribe a whole bunch of sentences later.  I thought I’d hit the mother-load when I got six pages of sentences from Game Change.  The last two books I’ve read, Unbroken and Over the Edge of the World**, have resulted in twelve and sixteen pages respectively.  Now that I’m developing a pretty good data-base of authentic-text sentences, teaching grammar a lot more effective, I hope.


“But what does this have to do with appositives?” I can hear you ask with a growing tone of exasperation in your voice.  “Get on with it already!”  For the next couple of weeks, I’m going to be doing some TOEFL prep with my students.  One very common structure used in Part II of the TOEFL test is reduced adjective clauses.  For several years now, I’ve been promising my students that I would make something to teach these beasts, but coming up with enough good examples seemed impossible...UNTIL NOW, thanks to my iPad.


After several days of pounding on my keyboard (I almost put‘typewriter.’  Man, I’m old.), inputting seemingly hundreds of sentences (at least thirty pages, anyway), rereading them specifically for adjective clauses, copying them to new, specific lists for adjective clauses, reduced clauses and appositives, and finally re-copying and re-organizing them by type of appositive (Hoo-whee that was fun.), I have a good list of approximately ninety sentences to work from.  (Kids, don’t try this at home.)


Though it all, I feel like I have a much better understanding of appositives and can answer some nagging questions that I and many others have had.  If you haven’t already given up and gone back to Facebook, here is what I’ve learned about appositives.

Go to Part I

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*Like when your wife, who didn't want you to "waste money on another toy," spends so much time using your iPad that the battery is dead when you get home from work every day.


**Books Referenced
Game Change by John Heilemann an Mark Halperin.  (Amazon Kindle price - $9.99)

• This is a really interesting history of the 2008 Presidential election in the U.S., in which Barack Obama became president.  It was great to relive the excitement and learn a lot of fascinating behind-the-scenes stuff.

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand.  (Amazon Kindle price - $12.99)

• If this book were fiction, you would throw it away thinking "This is so implausible."  However, it is a very detailed account of a juvenile delinquent who becomes an Olympic athlete (shaking hands with Hitler), and a soldier who survives unbelievable hardships.  I couldn't put it down.  Very good reading.

Over the Edge of the World by Laurence Bergreen.  (Amazon Kindle price - $10.99)

• This book is a fascinating, thoroughly researched account of Magellan's voyage around the world. Much of the narrative is based on detailed first-hand accounts by Antonia Pigafetta, one of the few men to survive the circumnavigation.  This book filled in so many blanks left in traditional high school textbooks and taught me many things I had no idea of.  If you like history, you'll love this book.