On Wed, 24 Jun 1998, James Vanden Bosch wrote:

> Traditional grammar has the nominative absolute functioning as a modifier
> of the entire sentence, or, if the "absolute" label is taken literally, as
> a grammatical unit with no grammatical relationship to any particular part
> of the main clause.  Most writers use it to set a scene or to present
> information in a grammatical form below the level of the clause.  It is a
> very effective way to add information to a sentence without putting it
> forward as a claim to be contested.

I found this question very interesting, and had the same question about
the function of 'absolutes' as Ed had. I find it odd, however, that the
'absolute' might be taken as having 'no gram. relationship to any
particular part of the clause'. There is at least one grammatical
relationship here, between the pro-form 'one' and its antecedent,
'factors' (it clearly does not refer, for example, to 'relationship' or to
'patient'). That there is a close relationship between 'factors' and 'one'
is also apparent from the fact that one can -- though it renders an
awkward structure -- rearrange the sentence as follows:

1. >>There are several factors (one being that the patient is in their own
home) that strengthen or add to this relationship.<<

Compare this with the original:

2. >>There are several factors that strengthen or add to this
relationship, one being that the patient is in their own home.<<

The absolute 'one being ... ' cannot be felicitously placed anywhere else
except in one of these two spots. This makes it similar to other
noun-modifiers such as relative clauses, which (again sometimes awkwardly)
may appear at the end of the sentence as well as right after their heads.
As #1 shows, this absolute is also similar to an appositive in its
position and function, although not in its grammatical structure --
appositives are noun phrases, while this is a nonfinite clause complete
with subject, as several respondents have pointed out.
>
> That's a rhetorical or functional explanation, and not a very satisfying
> grammatical explanation, I know, but, all things being equal, absolute
> phrases can get a nice piece of work done in a sentence and in a paragraph.

I _love_ functional and rhetorical explanations! How much difference is
there, really, between a grammatical and a functional/rhetorical
explanation? Grammatical structures are the way they are because of their
functions. We 'package' our meanings into one structure rather than
another because the one structure answers our functional needs better than
the other. A lot of 'clumsy but grammatical' student writing fails on this
point.

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Johanna Rubba   Assistant Professor, Linguistics              ~
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