Absolute Phrase

(What It Is & How To Use It)

Absolute Phrase - GiveMeSomeEnglish!!!

“An Absolute Phrase Is Any Phrase Which Contains Both A Noun & A Participle — And May Contain An Adjective or other ‘Modifier‘ And/Or An Object“

What Is An Absolute Phrase

n Absolute Phrase (as stated above) is any Phrase which contains both a Noun and a Participle and may also contain an Adjective and/or Object. The Modifier may appear at the beginning of the Phrase to modify the Noun, as well as at the end of the Phrase in order to modify the Participle.

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(Optional) ADJECTIVE(s) + NOUN + PARTICIPLE + (Optional) ADJECTIVE(s) and/or OBJECT / OBJECT PHRASE

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Examples:

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“Its gaze fixed…”

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In This Example:

“Its” is the Modifier

“Gaze” is the Noun

“Fixed” is the Participle

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“His jaws clenched firmly around his prize…”

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In This Example:

“His” is the Modifier

“Jaws” is the Noun

“Clenched Firmly Around” is the Participle

“His Prize” is the Object

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“Her paws scraping the thin glass that separated her from the unaware child…”

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In This Example:

“Paws” is the Noun

“Scraping” is the Participle

“Her”, “The Thin”, “That Separated”, & “The Unaware” are all Modifiers

“Glass” is the Direct Object

“Child” is the Indirect Object

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Notice! — Some of the Modifiers also modify the Direct and Indirect Object as well as the Noun and the Participle. (This is one of the reasons why the term “Modifier” is not considered to be a proper Grammatical Term in The Grammar Of The Common Tongue.) 😉

o you can see from the examples above that Phrases can vary greatly in length and in substance. And that the Absolute Phrase can go either before or after the the Clause which it is describing.

Examples:

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“Its gaze fixed, the viscious killer sized-up its prey.”

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Absolute Phrase 002 - GiveMeSomeEnglish!!!

Or…

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“It confidently sized-up its prey while keeping its gaze firmly fixed.”

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“His jaws clenched firmly around his prize, he contemplated his next move.”

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Ball Biter - GiveMeSomeEnglish!!!

Or…

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“He stared up at the unwitting human — his jaws clenched firmly around his prize — knowing that he would soon have two more balls to bite.”

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“Her paws scraping the thin glass that separated her from the unaware child, she tried — unsuccessfully — to make the delicious baby her lunch.”

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Delicious Baby - GiveMeSomeEnglish!!!

Or…

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“She tried to make the delicious baby her lunch but she was unsuccessful — with her paws scraping the thin glass that separated her from the tasty unaware child.”

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s you can see from these examples — that when putting the Absolute Phrase after the Clause which it modifies — it is often necessary to add such things as: additional Pronouns, Objects, and other types of Modifiers — in-order-to make the Sentence actually sound half-way decent.

owever — in most cases — it is best to keep the Absolute Phrase in front of the Clause that it is describing. Otherwise — in the written form — it gets a little “long-winded” or un-necessarily (and verbosely) “poetic”. And in the spoken form… Well… Nobody actually talks like that… Unless they’re crazy. 😀