Appositives Part Deux: When do I need commas?

Appositive Phrase Review

An appositive further explains, identifies, or renames a noun or pronoun in a sentence. If often begins with a, an, or the It contains a noun.

Most employees avoided the terribly awkward office gathering, a lame and last minute attempt at a birthday party for Chuck.

One-word Appositives
There are appositive phrases, but like single-word participles, there are appositives, a single worda noun that redefines or renames another noun or pronoun. Chuck, a labradoodle, loves Cheetos.

One-word Appositives (non-essential)

When the information an appositive gives about a noun is NOT ESSENTIAL, we use commas. The noun would still be clearly defined even without the appositive. Chuck loves Cheetos. Chuck, a labradoodle, loves Cheetos.
This information is helpful but its not essential.

Non-essential Appositive Phrase

When the information an appositive gives about a noun is NOT ESSENTIAL, we use commas. Rita, my first cat, loved the snow. Rita loved the snow. This information is helpful
but its not essential. With context, we would already know that Rita was a cat.

Essential Appositive
When the information an appositive gives about a noun is ESSENTIAL, we DONT use commas. Last year, actor Christian Bale won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his amazing performance in The Fighter.
Without his name, we dont know which actor were talking about. (Alsothe sentence doesnt make sense.)

Not Essential Use Commas My other roommate, a guy obsessed with Wheres Waldo books, embarrasses me when we go out in public.

Essential No Commas My other roommate Larry embarrasses me because he loves dressing up like Waldo.

A name is not always essential

Her husband, Leon, was arrested for stealing ten packages of hotdogs and six jugs of milk from 7-11.
The expectation is that someone only has ONE husband, so the name, in this case, is really EXTRA information.

TRICKY CALLS
Your friend Sam is in really big trouble.
This decision regarding commas depends on context. Your friend, in most cases, is so general that the name is essential to define who the subject is--with the understanding that most people have more than one friend. NO COMMAS.

TRICKY CALLS
Jessica wanted an autograph of the famous cellist Yo Yo Ma. The noun cellist--in most cases--would not be clearly defined without the name of the singer, so its ESSENTIAL. NO COMMAS!

Ask: Does the information define the subject or simply provide extra info about the subject? The gold medalist in the mens 500 Freestyle Swim, Reid Elliott, celebrated his victory by going to Disneyland.
The noun gold medalist is defined because we assume there is only one winner in a particular eventthe name is just extra information in this case.

The gold medalist Reid Elliott celebrated his victory by going to Disneyland.
There could be many gold medalistswe must know the name to know the subject of the sentence!

This same comma rule applies to nonessential and essential participial phrases
Pretend these two hamsters are in the same room.

The hamster rolling on the carpet loves science fiction books. The hamster eating a cookie prefers romance novels.
The participial phrases are essential to define the subjects.

This same comma rule applies to nonessential and essential participial phrases

Now--pretend this is the ONLY hamster in the room.

The hamster, rolling on the carpet, looked right at me.

The participial phrase could be considered helpful, but NOT essential, and thus, USE COMMAS!

This same comma rule applies to nonessential and essential prepositional phrases

The baby monkey on my leg is an orphan. The baby monkey by the teddy bear has a mother and 12 brothers.
The prepositional phrases are essential to define each monkey, so NO COMMAS.