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Difficulty: MediumNouns and Noun Phrases

In the sentence below, what is the syntactic function of the bolded noun phrase?

'The chief meteorologist, a veteran analyst with thirty years of forecasting experience, warned the coastal towns about the approaching tropical storm.'

  1. Appositive renaming the subjectAnswer
  2. B
    Subject complement following a copular verb
  3. C
    Direct object of the main verb
  4. D
    Prepositional complement of the modifier

Answer

Appositive renaming the subject
The bolded noun phrase is placed directly beside the subject 'The chief meteorologist' and is enclosed in commas to provide parenthetical identification. Because it renames the subject without a linking verb, it functions as an appositive.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the primary clause elements
The subject noun phrase is 'The chief meteorologist', the main verb is 'warned', and the direct object is 'the coastal towns'.
Isolating core sentence elements helps separate main clause functions from parenthetical structures.
2
Analyze the position and structural relationship of the bolded phrase
The bolded noun phrase 'a veteran analyst with thirty years of forecasting experience' is set off by commas and placed directly after the subject head noun.
Noun phrases placed adjacent to another noun phrase to define or rename it perform an appositive role.
3
Determine the exact syntactic function
Because it renames the subject noun phrase 'The chief meteorologist' without an intervening linking verb, it functions as an appositive to the subject.
An appositive provides parenthetical identification for an adjacent noun phrase.

Key Concept

Appositive Noun Phrase
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Topics

Nouns and Noun Phrases

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