As we have already seen in the first three parts of this series, absolute phrases are in many ways an intriguing part of speech of the English language. They can modify an entire sentence without using a finite noun or a finite verb, and without any conjunction to connect them to the main sentence:
“His dream realized, the man gave himself a well-deserved rest.” “
Their plan in shambles, the desperate politicians beat a hasty retreat.” Absolute phrases efficiently provide optional information that puts the idea in the main clause in context—often even overshadowing that idea.
Fairly common in expository and literary prose, absolute phrases take four forms: (1) as a noun plus a modifier, in a construction that sometimes even drops the noun altogether; (2) as a noun plus a participle; (3) as a noun plus an adjective; and (4) as a sentence tailender. Let’s take a close look at how they work.
As a noun plus a modifier. In its most common form, the absolute phrase consists of a modifying word or phrase tacked on to the noun or pronoun without the benefit of verb, preposition, or conjunction: “
His resolve weaker, the boxer gave up the fight.” “
Her choice Miguel, the woman decided to spurn Arsenio’s marriage offer.” And here’s a participle working all by its lonesome as absolute modifier: “
Miffed, the unwilling candidate snubbed his own proclamation.”
We can see that the above examples are elliptical or streamlined constructions of these two sentences that use participial or adverbial phrases: “
The resolve of the boxer was weaker, so he gave up the fight.” “
The woman’s choice was Miguel, so she decided to spurn Arsenio’s marriage offer.” By using absolute phrases, the original sentences got rid of weak verb forms (“was,” “were”) and a complex construction, taking the more concise and elegant forms shown in the preceding paragraph.
As a noun plus a participle. In this other common form, the absolute phrase this time uses a participle as modifier of a noun phrase: “
All her options exhausted, Jennifer took the lower-paying job.” “
The peace-and-order campaign sidetracked by politics, the kidnappers went on a rampage again.” Here, the sentences drop the auxiliary verb between the noun and the participle.
See how those sentences would read not using the absolute phrase structure: “
Jennifer had exhausted all of her options, so she took the lower-paying job.” “
The peace-and-order campaign was sidetracked by politics, so the kidnappers went on a rampage again.” They mean exactly the same as the previous constructions, but they lack the immediacy and oomph of their absolute-phrase-using variants.
As a noun plus an adjective. Sometimes, the absolute phrase simply tacks on an adjective or an adjectival phrase to its noun: “
His wife wide awake, the man furtively sent e-mail to his lover.” “
The slight to his ego still fresh, the candidate hurried to his countryside retreat.”
For the above examples, the absolute phrase did away with the verbs in the subordinate clauses as well as with the coordinating conjunctions “but” or “so” from these sentence constructions: “
His wife was wide awake, but the man furtively sent an e-mail to his lover.” “
The slight to his ego was still fresh, so the candidate hurried to his countryside retreat.”
As a tailender in a sentence. The absolute phrase can be neatly added without frills at the end of the sentence to put ideas in a broader context, to emphasize a detail, or simply to add color and texture to the sentence: “The man hesitated to accept the presidential draft,
his conscience pricked by questions about his competence.” “The writer ended his novel prematurely,
the hero still hanging on a cliff.”
This should bring our discussion of the absolute phrases to a satisfying close.
This essay, 2103rd of the series, appeared in the column “English Plain and Simple” by Jose A. Carillo in the Campus Press section of the June 16, 2022 digital edition of The Manila Times
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The four forms that absolute phrases take(Next week:
In defense of the passive voice) June 23, 2022
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