Absolute Nominative Participle Construction

Question

Does anybody know about Absolute Nominative Participle Construction? I need the grammatical description and excersises. Thank you in advance!

Clive · Accepted Answer

I searched Google with "Absolute Nominative Participle Construction" and with "Absolute Nominative Participle" and got just one hit, the same, in both cases. Are you by any chance Russian?

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www.sgu.ru/news/docs/_news_446.doc

I got just a handful of hits with a search for "absolute nominative", and none seemed terribly helpful.

I did some research myself, and here are a few comments, largely drawn from 'The Oxford Companion to the English Language'.

A 'nominative absolute' is a term that is sometimes used for an absolute clause. An absolute clause is is an adverbial clause that has its own subject + a participle as a verb.

eg The dinner having been prepared, I took a nap before my guests arrived.'

'The dinner' is the subject of the phrase. Contrast 'Having prepared dinner, I took a nap before before my guests arrived'. Here, the subject of the phrase is understood to be identical with the main subject, 'I'.

There are a few standard phrases that consist of these absolute clauses, eg weather permitting, all being well, present company excluded. Other than these, absolute clauses are used infrequently, and usually confined to formal writing.

I'm curious about what kind of class you are going to teach this to, and why? Is it part of a curriculum that you are obliged to follow? I hope you don't mind my asking.

Best wishes, Clive

Anonymous · Answer

An example would be, 'The regulation included monthly and hourly rates, daily rates having been omitted.' The five-word phrase at the end of this sentence comprises a participle with its own subject or nominative. I forget why it is called 'absolute'. The only book I know that mentions the construction is R.W. Zandvoort's A Handbook of English Grammar. It is an old book, perhaps not widely used in the English-speaking world (Zandvoort was a Dutchman), but I have seen reference to it in mainland Chinese writings about English. A good city library should have the book. I often use the construction translating, and teaching translation, from Chinese to English. The nature of Chinese is such that I find the construction indispensible. I used it without thinking until, one day, one of my Chinese students questioned its validity. That set me thinking. I justified it as an adverbial phrase qualifying the verb in the preceding clause ('included' in the example above). None of the modern grammars I consulted mentioned it, so I was relieved when I encountered Zandvoort's authoritative discussion. Today, another of my Chinese students told me that she was taught the construction when studying for the English Toeffl exam, and advised to use it, if she could, because its use would indicate an intimate knowledge of English in the writer.

Clive · Answer

Hi,

Thanks, that's all very interesting information.

I see it much more as a feature of written English than of our often disorganized and spontaneous spoken English.

Best wishes, Clive

Thomas Tompion · Answer

I wouldn't say that short absolute expressions were rare in spoken English. How about?:

Dinner being ready, I went downstairs.
The car being out of action, I had to walk.

Clive · Answer

Hi,
Do you often hear people talking like this?

Best wishes, Clive

Thomas Tompion · Answer

I would regard it as a normal spoken register for a slightly formal narrative, but only a slightly formal one. I'm taking 'like this' to mean using such a form of words.

The answer to your question is, therefore, quite often. I think it's not at all unusual in spoken educated English.

CalifJim · Answer

CliveDo you often hear people talking like this?

I don't. Once in a great while maybe. But I do see it fairly often in literature -- Dickens, Hardy, or Melville, perhaps. Sometimes they even leave out the participle!
The dinner ready, everyone sat down to eat.
The chairman at the podium, a hush descended upon the assembly.
The tiger finally in its cage again, we breathed a sigh of relief.
CJ
PS. I think the terminology comes from Latin grammar. The 'ablative absolute' in Latin is usually translated into English by a participial construction of some kind.

Thomas Tompion · Answer

I think the point is that an 'absolute' construction modifies the whole sentence, whereas a participle construction modifies the subject. Thus:

Dinner being ready, we all went downstairs - Absolute construction (we didn't necessarily prepare the dinner)

Having prepared dinner, we all went downstairs - Participle construction (we prepared the dinner)

A common problem is to forget that the participle construction modifies the subject, as in
Not having read the book myself, it was difficult for me to comment.
Many people make this mistake - I found the sentence in a well-known English grammar book.

It didn't read the book, and could not have read the book myself.

One way out of the error is to say Not having read the book myself, I found it difficult to comment.

Anonymous · Answer

'm not quite sure if that anonymous guy knew Russian, but as for me - I AM Russian!

I've been searching for this **** construction for a while before I saw your post!) I'm pretty sure that you'll never read my response Clive, but if you happen to, I'm preparing for my final university exam on theoretical grammar.

Thanx,

Dasha-from-Russia

Anonymous · Answer

Absolute constructions consist of a noun and some kind of modifier, the most common being a participle. Because they often come at the beginning of a sentence, they are easily confused with dangling participles. But an absolute construction modifies the rest of the sentence, not the subject of the sentence (as a participial phrase does). You can use absolute constructions to compress two sentences into one and to vary sentence structure as a means of holding a reader's interest. Here are some examples:
No other business arising, the meeting was adjourned.
The paint now dry, we brought the furniture out on the deck.
The truck finally loaded, they said goodbye to their neighbors and drove off.
The horse loped across the yard, her foal trailing behind her.
1
Constructions like these are used more often in writing than in speaking, where it is more common to use a full clause: When the paint was dry, we brought the furniture out on the deck. There are, however, many fixed absolute constructions that occur frequently in speech:
The picnic is scheduled for Saturday, weather permitting.
Barring bad weather, we plan to go to the beach tomorrow.
All things considered, it's not a bad idea.

Absolute Nominative Participle Construction

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