Question

Read the sentence.

Mike, an architect, won the commission for the new office building.

Which of these correctly identifies the appositive in the sentence?

Answer 1

"An architect" is an appositive in this sentence because it is renaming Mike as an architect, and "Mike" comes before it in the sentence. 

Answer 2

Answer:

The appositive in the sentence is the NP "an architect".

Explanation:

An appositive is a noun or noun phrase that renames another noun right beside. In this case, the NP "the architect" renames the proper noun "Mike". As  the information provided by the appositive is nonessential, it is separated from the rest of the sentence with commas. This means that if the appositive was removed, the meaning of the sentence would be left unchanged (see 1).

1) Mike won the commission for the new office building