1. Appositives & Commas
An appositive is a noun or pronoun — often with modifiers — set beside another noun or pronoun to explain or identify it. Here are some examples of appositives (the noun or pronoun will be in blue, the appositive will be in red).
Your friend Bill is in trouble.
My brother's car, a sporty red convertible with bucket seats, is the envy of my friends.
The chief surgeon, an expert in organ-transplant procedures, took her nephew on a hospital tour.

2. Helpful Hints
Sometimes the appositive phrase comes before the noun or pronoun
An appositive phrase :
Renames the noun or pronoun
Has no subject or verb
Can be removed from a sentence still leaving it alone
Can appear anywhere in a sentence

3. Another Helpful Hint My cousin Betty is a wonderful musician.
There are no commas because Betty is a one word appositive

4. Click here to download Appositves & Commas: Practice
Example
Wrong: Romeo and Juliet a play about two young lovers was written by William Shakespeare a talented writer in the Elizabethan Era.
Right: Romeo and Juliet, a play about two young lovers, was written by William Shakespeare, a talented writer in the Elizabethan Era.
Click here to download Appositves & Commas: Practice