Last week’s column described
the nominative absolute or
absolute clause—to avoid confusion we will call it
the absolute phrase—as a major departure from the usual modifying phrases in that it doesn’t directly modify a specific word in the main clause. Instead, it modifies the entire main clause, adding information or providing context to it.
An absolute phrase typically consists of a noun or pronoun followed by a participle and a related modifier, as in “
The orchards having been destroyed by the wildfire, the honeybees simply died.” In the modifying phrase here, “orchards” is the noun and “having been destroyed” the participle, with “by the wildfire” as modifier. Unlike the typical modifying phrase, however, this absolute phrase modifies neither the noun “honeybees” nor the verb “died” in the main clause. Instead, it modifies the whole main clause, “the honeybees simply died,” to give context to that idea.
Another unique attribute of absolute phrases is that they often can take a more concise form by shedding off the form of “be” in the participle, as in
“Their pollen sources [having been] destroyed by the wildfire, the honeybees simply died.” And, in some cases, the absolute phrase drops even the participle itself and just implies its presence:
“Their pollen sources [being] no longer there, the honeybees simply died.”
Now, this question inevitably comes to mind: Why bother with absolute phrases at all? In the illustrative sentence constructions above, why not just use the typical modifying phrases to modify the main clause, as in “
Because the orchards have been destroyed by the wildfire, the honeybees simply died” or “
Since their pollen sources have been destroyed by the wildfire, the honeybees simply died” or perhaps even “
Due to the fact that their pollen sources are no longer there, the honeybees simply died”? After all, these constructions have the advantage of making the grammatical and logical connection between the main clause and the subordinate phrase clearer, direct, and more emphatic.
In sentence construction, however, we will encounter situations in which our statements may sound forced, strained, overstated, or even simplistic when they categorically emphasize the logical or temporal relationship between a main idea and a subordinate idea. This problem can arise when we use adverbial phrases introduced by such subordinators as “because,” “since,” and “due to the fact,” as in the constructions given above. The statements can often become too didactic and excessively forceful, making us sound like a lawyer trying to argue a moot point in court or like a child articulating a newfound idea in minute detail.
In contrast, when we convert those adverbial phrases into absolute phrases, we can make the temporal or logical relationship between the main idea and the subordinate idea just implicit or subtle: “
The orchards having been destroyed by the wildfire, the honeybees simply died.” “
Their pollen sources destroyed by the wildfire, the honeybees simply died.” “
Their pollen sources no longer there, the honeybees simply died.” By not overtly showing the cause-and-effect link between two ideas, we come up with more concise, more elegantly phrased, and better-sounding sentences.
Another important use of the absolute phrase is to describe a detail of a larger situation that has been set forth by the main clause, as in these constructions: “
His knees shaking from his upset loss, the tennis champion managed to smile nevertheless.” “
Inexperience written all over her face, the new bank teller asked the client impertinent questions.” “
The sea so calm that night, they set sail for Guimaras Island.” There’s no direct cause-and-effect relationship between the main clause and the subordinate clause; instead, the circumstance or qualifying idea is provided simply to give context to the situation.
In sum, absolute phrases are subtler and smoother combiners of ideas than all the other types of modifying phrases.
This essay, 2102nd of the series, appeared in the column “English Plain and Simple” by Jose A. Carillo in the Campus Press section of the June 9, 2022 digital edition of The Manila Times
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The absolute phrase as subtler, smoother combiner of ideas(Next week:
The four forms that absolute phrases take)
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