Help me recall a grammar term: In the following sentence, what is the name for the phrase “the Lone Star State”? Texas, the Lone Star State, is a great place to vacation. I’m drawing a total blank!
Appositive?
Yup, that’s it! BTW, if you were around in the 80s, have the grammar rules changed on comma usage? I’ve never heard of this “essential” vs. “nonessential” business to determine the proper way to punctuate certain phrases. As if comma rules aren’t confusing enough!
I was around in the 80s (grammar school), and attended high school in the early 90s, and I do not recall there being any change in comma usage with essential and nonessential clauses. Strunk & White dates back from much before that era, and they have a section on restrictive and non-restrictive clauses. The rules on usage (to me any way) make a whole lot of sense.
Actually, I meant to write “to me, anyway.”
There have been some changes in regards to stylistically favoring less punctuation vs more punctuation (look up “open” vs “closed” punctuation.) I’d say that dates back a bit farther, though. In the case of restrictive vs non-restrictive clauses, I find that the use or non-use of commas are helpful, if not necessary, for clarifying a potentially ambiguous sentence.