Which sentence contains a correctly punctuated appositive phrase?

1) Dr. Banks, our family doctor, was born in Colorado.

2) Dr. Banks our family doctor was born in Colorado

3) Dr., Banks, our family doctor was born in Colorado.

4) Dr. Banks our family doctor, was born in Colorado.

Review the scenario.
You are trying to find information on the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Which words would be most helpful as search terms for this topic?

1) Muslim AND American

2) planes AND disasters

3) New York City AND Afghanistan

4) World Trade Center AND Osama bin Laden

An appositive is a restatement of a noun or additional information about it. When the removal of an appositive does not affect the meaning of the sentence, it is called non-restrictive. This information can be separated from the rest of the sentence by using commas. In this case, the correct answer is 1: Dr. Banks, our family doctor, was born in Colorado. The phrase "our family doctor" is extra information: it is not necessary to understand the sentence; therefore, this appositive is non-restrictive, and it is correctly separated by the use of commas.

World Trade Center and Osama Bin Laden are the most helpful search terms for the topic of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The World Trade Center was the place where the events took place in this year. Moreover, Osama Bin Laden was related to this terrible event as one of the terrorists who planned the attack.