Apposition is a grammatical construction in which two elements, normally noun phrases, are placed side by side so one element identifies the other in a different way. The two elements are said to be in apposition, and one of the elements is called the appositive, but its identification requires consideration of how the elements are used in a sentence. For example, in these sentences, the phrases Alice Smith and my sister are in apposition, with the appositive identified with italics: My sister, Alice Smith, likes jelly beans. Alice Smith, my sister, likes jelly beans. Traditionally, appositions were called by their Latin name appositio, derived from the Latin ad ("near") and positio ("placement"), although the English form is now more commonly used. Apposition is a figure of speech of the scheme type and often results when the verbs (particularly verbs of being) in supporting clauses are eliminated to produce shorter descriptive phrases. That makes them often function as hyperbatons, or figures of disorder, because they can disrupt the flow of a sentence. For example, in the phrase: "My wife, a surgeon by training,...", it is necessary to pause before the parenthetical modification "a surgeon by training". Restrictive versus non-restrictive A restrictive appositive provides information essential to identifying the phrase in apposition. It limits or clarifies that phrase in some crucial way, such that the meaning of the sentence would change if the appositive were removed. In English, restrictive appositives are not set off by commas. The sentences below use restrictive appositives. Here and elsewhere in this section, the relevant phrases are marked as the appositive phraseA or the phrase in appositionP. My friendP Alice SmithA likes jelly beans. – I have many friends, but I am restricting my statement to the one named Alice Smith. He likes the television showP The SimpsonsA. – There are many television shows, and he likes that particular one. A non-restrictive appositive provides information not critical to identifying the phrase in apposition. It provides non-essential information, and the essential meaning of the sentence would not change if the appositive were removed. In English, non-restrictive appositives are typically set off by commas. The sentences below use non-restrictive appositives. Alice SmithP, my friendA, likes jelly beans. – The fact that Alice is my friend is not necessary to identify her. I visited CanadaP, a beautiful countryA. – The appositive (that it is beautiful) is not needed to identify