Can we use appositives before the subject?

Question

1. Good vocabulary, knowledge of grammar, sense of style--all are basic writing skills.
2. Basic writing skills--good vocabulary, knowledge of grammar, sense of style-- can be learned by almost everyone.

In (2) the series of appositives are "good vocabulary, knowledge of grammar, sense of style". So by definition "The appositive is a noun or noun phrase that modifies another noun" so it means appositive comes after the subject right?

But my doubt is can we use appostives before a subject like in (1) and in (1) which is the subject(i.e noun) that modifies the noun phrases "Good vocabulary, knowledge of grammar, sense of style" ?

Answer 1

Yes.

Appositives most commonly appear after the noun or pronoun they rename, as in these examples from Pattern 7 from The Art of Styling Sentences (I have boldfaced the appositives and italicized the noun they rename):

He learned the necessary qualities for political life -- guile, ruthlessness, and garrulity -- by carefully studying his father's life.

My favorite red wines -- Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir -- blend well in making California rosé wines.

The basic writing skills (good vocabulary, knowledge of grammar, sense of style) can be learned by almost everyone.

However, as shown in these examples from Pattern 6 of the same book, appositives can also appear before their associated noun or pronoun. In these cases, the appositive usually starts the sentence:

The depressed, the stressed, the lonely, the fearful -- all have trouble coping with problems.

Here, "the depressed", "the stressed", "the lonely", and "the fearful" are appositives renaming the subject "all".

Gluttony, lust, envy -- which is the worst sin?

"Which" is the pronoun being renamed here.

The link to Grammar Bytes! given by FumbleFingers in the comments includes another example:

When the appositive begins the sentence, it looks like this:

A hot-tempered tennis player, Robbie charged the umpire and tried to crack the poor man's skull with a racket.

Answer 2

Your examples are both good, although I wouldn't say that an appositive "modifies" anything. It's simply a rephrasing.

Answer 3

1) Good vocabulary, knowledge of grammar, sense of style--all are basic writing skills.

There is no appositive in the sentence above. There are three noun phrases, all different. There are three different things, not the same things.

2) Basic writing skills--good vocabulary, knowledge of grammar, sense of style-- can be learned by almost everyone.

In the sentence above, there is no apposition.

Here are FumbleFingers' examples:

1) Tom, Dick and Harry, the brothers [brothers renames Tom, Dick and Harry]

2) The OP here, a new visitor to ELL [a new visitor renames the OP]

3) My Aunt, Mary Elizabeth Trosper [the name renames My Aunt]

An appositive has to RENAME a thing, but not be a completely different thing. An appositive is NOT three items starting a sentence.

Bananas, apples and oranges were on the table. [no appositive]

Bananas, an edible fruit, were on the table. edible fruit renames bananas]

Appositions can be used anywhere in a sentence to rename an existing person or thing.

• The orange man, aka the US president, is unfit for office.
• That scum ball doctor, a true pervert, molested those girls.
• A large dog, man's best friend, can be a lot of work.
• Any cat, a furry feline creature, is great for petting.

Appositives always come AFTER the noun they accompany and rename them or restate them. They are often at the beginning of sentences, but not always.

John was coming down the driveway in red RAM truck, a very heavy car.

Answer 4

Virginia Tufte in her book Artful Sentences, talks about "inverted" and "initial" appositives, as in "A lonely boy, Coleridge retreated into books...and fed his mind with adventures so wild and fancies so morbid that he often feared the coming of the night" so I'm not convinced that appositives "Always come AFTER the noun."

What she doesn't say, but I think she should--and the examples provided above from The Art of Styling Sentences have further emboldened me to think so-- is that these inverted appositives have to be at the beginning of sentences and the noun that follows the appositive has to be the subject of the sentence. Otherwise, I have no answer for the student who might say to me, Well why isn't Coleridge in apposition to "A lonely boy" instead of the other way around?

I'm curious, has anyone else heard the term Tufte uses,"inverted appositive"?