I think the syntax of both of the following sentences is seriously flawed:
(1) “The old man sat in the sofa, his face being serious.”
(2) “His face being serious, the old man sat in the sofa.”
The phrase “his face being serious” may look like a participial construction but it actually isn’t, whether positioned at the tail end or up front of the sentence. The form “being serious” just doesn’t qualify as a present participle, which is defined as a present action in relation to the time expressed by the operative verb in the sentence, which in this case is the past-tense “sat.” In fact, “being serious” is not an evolving action at all but a state or condition, which of course makes it a stative verb phrase rather than a dynamic one. It definitely isn’t in the same league as the present participle “reddening” in the sentence “The old man sat in the sofa, his face reddening”; here, it’s clear that the “reddening” is a dynamic action taking place at the same time as the old man’s action of sitting in the sofa.
So if “his face being serious” isn’t a participial phrase, what could it be? It’s actually a faulty construction of what should be the absolute phrase “his face serious”—a form of modifying phrase that drops the verb altogether so that what remains is only the noun plus an adjective. See how the absolute phrase “his face serious” works perfectly no matter where it is positioned in the sentence:
(3) “The old man sat in the sofa, his face serious.”
(4) “His face serious, the old man sat in the sofa.”
(5) “The old man, his face serious, sat in the sofa.”
In all of the three constructions above, “his face serious” works as an absolute phrase, modifying not the subject “old man” but the entire main clause itself. Take note that in Sentence 5, “The old man, his face serious, sat in the sofa,” “his face serious” may look like an appositive but it actually isn’t. Remember that an appositive is a noun or noun phrase that renames another noun right beside it, but “his face serious” doesn’t do that but gives context to the entire sentence instead—a clear indication that it’s working not as an appositive but as an absolute phrase in that sentence.
While we are it, we might as well take a look at the three other forms that absolute phrases can take:
1. As a noun plus a modifier. Examples: “His sight weaker, Ben bumped into the lamppost.” “Her job prospects bright, she wanted to join the country’s most respected law firm.”
2. As a noun plus a participle. Examples: “All his wealth gone, the extravagant ex-millionaire lived like a hermit.” “The water meter in his apartment leaking, the tenant incurred a ridiculously high water billing.”
3. As a tailender in a sentence. Examples: “The rich man gave a hefty charitable donation, his heart touched by the misery of the slum dwellers.” “The student was absent from class, her classmates painfully aware of the sudden illness that befell her.”
I hope that my explanation above has reduced your bafflement over absolute phrases, which admittedly behave in an entirely different way from the usual subordinate phrases we encounter in English sentences.
Poll