NOUNS IN APPOSITION

Read the following sentence:

            Rama, our captain, made fifty run.

 We see that Rama and our captain are one and the same person. The noun captain follows the noun Rama simply to explain which Rama referred to.

When one noun follows another to describe it, the noun which follows is said to be in apposition to the noun which comes before it.

[ Apposition means placing near.]

A noun in apposition is in the same case as the noun which it explain.

In the above sentence the noun captain in apposition to the noun Rama, and is in the Nominative Case (because Rama is in the Nominative Case).

Further examples:

1.      Kabir, the great reformer, was a weaver.

2.      Yesterday I met your uncle, the doctor.

3.      Have you seen Ganguli, the artist’s drawings?

In sentence 1, the noun in apposition is  in the Nominative Case.

In sentence 2, the noun in apposition is in the Accusative Case. [Why?]

In sentence 3, the noun in apposition is in the Genitive Case. [Why?]