英文中补充信息的利器：同位短语

同位短语（appositive phrase）

看名字好像很复杂，其实就是对一个名词做补充解释。当一个名词（或者名词短语）跟在另一个名词（或者名词短语）后面，对它进行更多的定义、提供更多信息的时候，这个名词就叫做同位语。

同位语靠逗号、圆括号、破折号或冒号和主句隔开。

比如：

Hermione Granger, a witch at Hogwarts School, is accomplished at spells.

“一个在霍格沃兹的巫师“，就是对Hermione Granger增加定义，提供更多信息，也就是它的同位语。

其他还有：

The Eiffel Tower, Gustave Eiffel’s masterpiece, can be found on the Champs de Mars.

My childhood friend, Anne-Marie, loved horses.

Peter (my mate from school) won the lottery.

For the last decade, prices in Alton –a small town only 25 minutes from London – have been soaring.

Lou Epstein, the oldest, shortest, and baldest of the three Epstein brothers, barely looked up from the cash register when Alfred entered the store. 

To pass this course you need just one trait: determination.

在很多文章中，同位语的前面还会加上namely, that is, in other words, i.e等引出介绍的词。

比如：

A clairvoyant is a person, commonly a woman, who has the power of seeing that which is invisible to her patron – namely, that he is a blockhead.

Is it really fair for the government – i.e., the taxpayers – to provide people with cell phones?

There is but one law for all , namely, that law which governs all law, the law of our Creator, the law of humanity, justice and equity– the law of nature and of nations.

同位语的功能

1，信息补充

同位语主要用于增加信息，去掉它不会对主句产生影响，只是少了很多读者可能需要知道的细节。

在文学写作中，同位语经常插入在主句里，轻松展示更多的内容。

Frédéric Chopin, a Polish composer, was one of the most celebrated virtuoso pianists of his day.

Elizabeth I, the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, became Queen of England in 1558.

2，强调信息

有两种强调方法，一种，是用同位语来重复之前的词，换一种方法说。

比如：

It is the perpetual dread of fear, the fear of fear, that shapes the face of a brave man.

This tale, this tragic tale, was full of cruel wars, savage devastation, unnecessary deaths and the inevitable search for bloody vengeance.

另一种，是把同位语放在句末，前面加一个冒号。

比如：

Most of today's Western philosophies are based on the thoughts and teachings of the big three: Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.