great examples; thank you. And look at all of the ones without participles!
I had forgotten the prepositional phrase possibility--essentially,the verb
"to be" is missing to make a whole sentence in most nominative absolutes.
Edith Wollin
-----Original Message-----
From: Fr Laurence [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2000 12:57 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Fwd: Re: My dog moaned, its tail stuck...
Although I don't teach the nominative absolute to 7th graders, the
construction turns up in their writing without their being aware of it.
Examples:
Lt. Lynn was silent for a while, his forehead wrinkled in deep
thought.
Jack ran into the house, sweat and dirt covering his face.
The runner sprinted to second base, his spikes kicking up dirt.
He stood over the body, sword in hand.
It went farther and farther, the wind carrying it into the stands.
We were all standing there, guns ready.
They reached for the knob, hands trembling and legs shaking.
Jag turned slowly around, his face pale.
The pilots walked out of the tent, their expresions glum.
I once heard a conference presenter refer to this construction as
the
Noun Part construction. You write a short simple sentence followed by a
comma, then a noun that is a part of the subject (e.g., "forehead" is a
part of Lt. Lynn), followed by a modifier of any kind, long or short. The
fact that the "noun-part" is not grammatically connected with the earlier
part of the sentence but just sort of "stuck on" is the reason it is
called "absolute" (standing alone).
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