Apposition
同位结构

同位语指用于再定义相邻的名词（或词组）的名词（或词组）。

例    Nature was addressed for the first time in a universal and international language, the precise and quantitative idiom of mathematics, a tongue which every man and woman, irrespective of color, creed or race, can use and master if given the proper training.

注: "the precise and quantitative idiom of mathematics" 和 "a tongue which every man and woman can use and master" 是同位语。

Awkward: Today, transistors and other solid state devices, such as personal computers, cellular telephones, and precision controls, to name a few, are the foundation of industries unknown a few decades ago.
Better: Today, transistors and other solid state devices are the foundation of industries unknown a few decades ago - personal computers, cellular telephones, and precision controls, to name a few.
(注意: industries unknown a few decades ago = personal computers, cellular telephones, and precision controls)

Awkward: Coolidge was a taciturn, morose New England farmer who did not seem to have apparent talents, but, he appeared to the country to symbolize such old American virtues as frugality, honesty, hard work and religious faith.
Better: A taciturn, morose New England farmer of no apparent talents, Coolidge nevertheless appeared to the country as a symbol of old American virtues: frugality, honesty, hard work, and religious faith.

Loose: Biotechnology is defined as the use of a natural biological system to produce a product or to achieve an end desired by human beings. The subject is not new.
Better: Biotechnology, the use of a natural biological system to produce a product or to achieve an end desired by human beings, is not new.