Grammar tree practice [AM]

The insect_,_ a cockroach_,_ crawled on my food.

Yes it’s an appositive modifier. I’d tree “a cockroach” as a modifier child of “insect”.

Not all modifiers are or feel the same. New Oxford Dictionary has:

modifier:

Grammar a word, especially an adjective or noun used attributively, that restricts or adds to the sense of a head noun (e.g. good and family in a good family house).

adjective:

a word or phrase naming an attribute, added to or grammatically related to a noun to modify or describe it.

If you like, you can check other dictionaries, wikipedia, and grammar explainers for more on this topic.

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