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Does formal English grammar require that appositives be in the same person? For example,

John, my friend, works at the diner.

Here both John and friend are in the third person.

However, what about a sentence such as this:

I beg you, the reader, to give these writings a chance.

Here we have the third person reader in apposition to the second person you. Is such a sentence outside the realm of formal grammar? Or is there no grammar rule requiring appositives to have identical persons?

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    No. Noun phrases do not agree in person. Indeed, appositives are virtually always third person, since they're referential. But they can be in apposition with a noun phrase of any person - first, second, or third. Commented Mar 1, 2017 at 21:43
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    This is perhaps a reflection on the fact that 'person' doesn't always correspond 1-to-1 with who is really being addressed. When one says 'People should not use mobiles while they're driving' it's often a hedged form of 'You should not use a mobile while you're driving'. // Perhaps 'I beg you, reader, to give ...' is more felicitous (though not more acceptable). Commented Mar 1, 2017 at 22:24

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