Absolute Nominative Participle Construction

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Anonymous

#387829 Wed, 04 Jul 07 10:01 AM

Does anybody know about Absolute Nominative Participle Construction? I need the grammatical description and excersises.

Thank you in advance!

Anonymous

Constructions, Nominative

Clive

#387962 Wed, 04 Jul 07 03:37 PM

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?

... сложное подлежащее (complex subject), абсолютная номинативная конструкция (absolute nominative participle construction), for-to construction, ...
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. Smile [:)]

Best wishes, Clive

Clive

Joined on Thu, Oct 28 2004

Canada

Veteran Member (23,116)

El tango argentino es un pensamiento triste que se puede bailar (The tango argentino is a sad thought which can be danced) Enrique Santos Discépolo

Verbs, Constructions, Clauses, Nominative

Anonymous

#406728 Mon, 20 Aug 07 10:38 AM

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.

Anonymous

Grammar, Verbs, Constructions, Clauses, Nominative, English Grammar, Translation

Clive

#406788 Mon, 20 Aug 07 02:04 PM

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

Clive

Nominative

Thomas Tompion

#589772 Thu, 20 Nov 08 08:11 AM

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.

Thomas Tompion

Joined on Thu, Nov 20 2008

Junior Member (79)

Thomas Tompion

Expressions, Nominative

Clive

#589981 Thu, 20 Nov 08 07:03 PM

Hi,
Do you often hear people talking like this?

Best wishes, Clive

Clive

Nominative

Thomas Tompion

#590061 Thu, 20 Nov 08 11:01 PM

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.

Thomas Tompion

Regards, Nominative

CalifJim

#590067 Thu, 20 Nov 08 11:23 PM

Clive
Do 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.

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.

CalifJim

Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004

California

Veteran Member (18,331)

"There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche

Grammar, Constructions, Literature, Nominative

Thomas Tompion

#590274 Fri, 21 Nov 08 12:35 PM

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.

Thomas Tompion

Grammar, Constructions, Nominative, English Grammar