Modifiers & Identifiers
Possessives & Appositives
Possessives act like adjectives and hang on slanted lines. Appositives rename the nouns they follow and appear in parentheses on the same baseline, immediately after the noun.
Possessives
Most possessives are diagrammed exactly like attributive adjectives — on a slanted line below the noun they modify. Absolute possessives (mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs) are diagrammed according to their function (subject, object, predicate nominative, etc.).
“Have you seen Anna's scooter?”
“Mine is over there.”
Appositives
An appositive is a word or phrase placed next to a noun to identify or rename it. In a diagram, the appositive is written in parentheses immediately after the word it identifies, on the same baseline. Modifiers of the appositive hang below it on slanted lines.
“Everyone likes my friend Jacob.”
“That's her son Jay's car.”
Expletives (namely, as)
An expletive is a word that introduces a construction without being a grammatical part of it. Namely introduces an appositive; as introduces a predicate nominative. Both are written above the parenthesis of the appositive (or above the complement), on a separate slanted line.
“Two seniors, namely Isabel and Katie, were chosen as co-captains.”