Questions tagged [absolute-constructions]
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31 questions
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Is the highlighted phrase an absolute phrase modifying the main clause or simply an non restrictive appositive?
But no one in Brega had a clear idea of what was happening on the battlefield, not even the few fighters fidgeting by a new barricade outside the refinery’s front gate
Source-: https://www.newyorker....
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Is "all showing that the weapons were being used by the Free Syrian Army" an absolute?
At the same time, dozens of videos of the weapons were being uploaded from Daraya, all showing that the weapons were being used by the Free Syrian Army
**Source-New Yorker magazine
https://www....
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Can Aspectual-Related Words like 'Still' and 'Already' Function as Modifiers in an Adjective Phrase?
This question closely ties into a question I had about verbless clauses. However, I am writing a new one at the suggestion of a user.
Polarity-sensitive aspectual-related words are those such as '...
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Would We Consider These Adjuncts to Be Verbless Clauses?
I've finished reading The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language's small section on verbless clauses (pages 1266–1268), and I want to ask whether certain supplements are considered verbless clauses....
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I am looking for the action verb in "…he having more plenteous ideas of the same order…"
I am reading Middlemarch by George Eliot. I encountered this long sentence and only understood the gist of it. I can't figure out the grammar style and I am looking for the verb of the subject "...
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When and when not to use "was" [duplicate]
About a hundred people had already gathered, a guard rail the only thing separating them from the crater's edge.
Is it not more proper to say "About a hundred people had already gathered, a ...
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Why is the comma added? [closed]
Why is the comma added in the following?
[The] Hyena crept slowly round, making the most of his spotted brown camouflaged fur against the brownish stems of grass.
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Is this a dangling participle and can it be fixed elegantly?
Does the second sentence begin with dangling participle?
Event X is here. Three years in the making, now it’s your chance to shine at our epic event.
One definition of a dangling participle is "...
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Is the highlighted part a noun phrase acting as an appositive or an absolute phrase, modifying the previous clause?
His chest and arms were thick and roped with muscle, testament to the athlete he’d once been.
In the sentence above, is "testament to ..." modifying the previous clause "his chest ..&...
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Is 'being' omitted in certain participle clauses and absolute constructions?
In literature (particularly fiction), there will often be examples of supplementary adjectives and absolute constructions in which a participle isn't present. My question boils down to how we analyse ...
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participle clauses/absolute phrases
Being tired, I got some rest at home.
Tired, I got some rest at home.
Rich, he wasn't happy.
Why are the sentences above correct, but these aren't?
Sick, he couldn't attend the meeting.
Old, he ...
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“Based on” X, we can say Y?
Based on the evidence available, I’m not sure I can conclude anything.
We often say that X is based on Y to mean X is grounded in, or adapted from, Y. But can we use it as above as if it were a sort ...
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What kind of sentence is this? (Sentence structure) - 3
But it is just two lovers, holding hands and in a hurry to reach their car, their locked hands a starfish leaping through the dark.
A sentence by John Updike.
I've never seen a lot of sentences like ...
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Mention the first immediate action in an '-ing' clause in front of the main clause
Page 585 of the Collins English Usage reads
To indicate that someone did one thing immediately after
another, you can mention the first thing they did in an '-ing' clause
in front of the main clause.
...
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Changing clause of condition to absolute phrase and participle w
1a. When I have money I will buy a car.
2a. If my parents allow I'll go abroad.
Can these sentence be changed into a absolute participle phrase? For example
1b. Having money, I'll buy a car.
2b. ...
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comma before "with"
The following text is a partial transcription of Steve Jobs’s June 6 keynote address at the 2011 Apple Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC), with a specific focus on Jobs’s remarks on the iCloud.
...
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verb-ing modifier trouble
I'm unexplainably confused about this topic.
What does the following verb-ing clause modify? (noun) researchers
or (action) have sent?
How do we decide that? --> very important for me
Is there any ...
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Why doesn’t the sentence "the standard of proof being one based on balance of probabilities" contain a verb?
The burden of proof is easier to discharge in a civil cases than in a criminal case, the standard of proof being one based on balance of probabilities.
Why there is no verb in the latter sentence? Is ...
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Is this participle clause sentence correct? [closed]
How do you think about this sentence? Is it ok grammatically?
Having been in shape, I go to gym twice a week.
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What are typical "emotional absolutes" and why we should avoid them in academic writing?
I am working on a revision of an academic research paper. We performed some empirical studies and wrote a paper to demystify some common misunderstanding of certain techniques.
One reviewer gave me ...
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What's the underlying grammatical structure of this sentence with three instances of "it" and two of "being"?
I just encountered the following sentence in The Oxford Guide to Style (p. 161) and could not figure out its structure:
Since it⁽¹⁾ is being presented as a direct quotation it⁽²⁾ is treated as one, ...
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Is there a name other than "absolute" for this kind of construction?
In some languages there are absolute constructions like the Genitive Absolute in Greek:
Καὶ ἤδη ὥρας πολλῆς γενομένης προσελθόντες αὐτῷ οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ ἔλεγον ὅτι ἔρημός ἐστιν ὁ τόπος καὶ ἤδη ὥρα ...
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Examples of absolute phrases with adverbs instead of participles
I'm looking for examples / explanation of absolute phrases with adverbs instead of participles.
What about the following:
She walked into the room, gracefully.
Is the adverb, gracefully, an ...
user99677
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What kind of phrase is "...better at finding patterns of burglary than of, say, murder"?
Predictive-policing systems are imperfect, better at finding patterns of burglary than of, say, murder.
I know that "better at finding patterns of burglary than of, say, murder." is describing ...
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How well does this sentence structure work?
I'm proofreading someone else's video game script, and I'm having a bit of trouble with her use of absolute phrases. She likes using absolute phrases in her sentence structures, like so:
My fingers ...
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Is "needless to say" an absolute phrase? [closed]
Would the phrase "needless to say" be an absolute phrase (adverbial phrase that modifies the entire clause after it)?
"Needless to say, I was super happy."
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Does this sentence use a nominative absolute phrase?
Does the following sentence end with a nominative absolute?
The term was coined nearly 40 years ago by a prominent cardiologist, who noticed that all of his heart disease patients had common ...
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Is this Clause or falls under some other category
a finding that has shocked most observers.
Full sentence:
studies have shown that X is 60 percent of Y, a finding that has shocked most observers.
What is your opinion. Isn't it that the above is a ...
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"Being [he/him] is not easy." Which is prescriptively "correct"?
"It is I" follows a well-known prescriptivist rule
This question is about prescriptive grammar. It’s a fairly well-known prescriptivist rule that “me, him, her, them” (in other words, pronouns in the ...
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Which types of clause can be defined as absolute clause?
I scooped her up. Her belly fit snugly
into my palm ; a low continual grunting pulsed through her body .
These sentences have been recited from the following link:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/...
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Is "more full picture" an absolute phrase?
In the following example, is more full picture a kind of absolute phrase?
He has given us a lot, more full picture of dinosaurs of the East Coast.
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