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I have a question around apposition, and would like to ensure I’m not overlooking anything. I’m editing an article where there are multiple instances of phrases that I would usually cordon off with a en dash or colon, as while they’re clarifying what precedes, they’re also introducing a new point. However, is it possible that they’re just a variant of apposition that I’m not aware of, and are therefore grammatical?

Here are some (altered) examples from the text (phrases in question are in bold):

‘Finally, there is a pivotal point to make about this question of funding for stationary, the ‘funding war’ of this article’s title.’

and:

‘The next occasion was a surprise attack on the main funding body by Mr Squiggle, militant sketch artist, an attack that further demoralised the citizens of the Moon.’

Much appreciated,

Book Wormeo

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  • Looks more like you are overthinking, instead. – Kris Aug 2 '18 at 9:10
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Uh… how could your examples be of apposition, please?

Please never alter example phrases. They’re either good examples or they’re not. If your alteration is good, why obfuscate the issue? If it’s not good, why trouble anyone with it?

Please also be aware of several underlying queries in both your question and your example.

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  • It's possible that the OP may have altered the examples in the interests of confidentiality. It's something that is frequently done in online discussions by editors. We preserve the grammatical structure to make the point about what we're asking. – Livrecache Oct 5 '17 at 0:09
  • Really, Livrecache? Doubtless, you can explain what was altered for confidentiality in the first example? Stationery, perhaps? Who states that something has been altered, without clarifying what, guarantees to confuse the issue. The changes in the second example might be Mr Squiggle and the citizens of the Moon and they might not. How wculd anyone know? If that were the case could it be more helpful to use, for instance, Mr Namechange and the citizens of Changeplace? Why make things easier when they could be more difficult? Still, how were they apposition, please? – Robbie Goodwin Oct 5 '17 at 20:03

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