About the sentence "He was shot by John Black": there are a few ways
to insert the word "archer," and then you may or may not — depending
on the meaning you want — use an article before it with the appositive "John
Black" (or, with "archer" as the appositive).
The sentences below are in this order: the first two are for the least famous John Black, and the last for the most famous John Black.
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(1)
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He was shot by an archer, John Black.
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In this sentence, with the
indefinite article, the writer believes that the reader may or may not
have heard of John Black, and that John Black needs to be identified.
Here, you do need the comma after "archer."
A similar sentence is : "She was married to a baseball player, John
Doe."
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(2)
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He was shot by John Black, an archer.
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Sentence (2) is the same as (1). You need the comma after "John Black."
A similar sentence is: "She
was married to John Doe, a baseball player."
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(3)
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He was shot by the archer, John Black.
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Sentence (3) indicates that
John Black is quite a famous archer, one that most people have heard
of. You need the comma after "archer."
A similar sentence is: "She was married to the golfer, Tiger Woods."
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(4)
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He was shot by John Black, the archer.
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Sentence (4) is the same as
(3). You need the comma after "John Black."
A similar sentence is: "She was married to Tiger Woods, the golfer."
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(5) |
He was shot by archer John Black. |
This sentence is also correct.
The implication is that John Black is a very famous archer, one that
everyone knows of.
A similar sentence is: "She
was married to baseball player, Joe DiMaggio."
Here are more examples, from
least famous to most famous:
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(6)
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The drama was written by a playwright unknown at the time, Vaclav
Havel. (Like (1) and (2) above)
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(7)
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The drama was written by the playwright Vaclav Havel. (Like (3)
and (4) above)
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(8)
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The drama was written by playwright Vaclav Havel before he became
President Vaclav Havel. (Like (5) above)
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