English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

grammar In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structure, structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clause (linguistics), clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraint ...

, a nominative absolute is a free-standing (

absolute Absolute may refer to: Companies * Absolute Entertainment, a video game publisher * Absolute Radio, (formerly Virgin Radio), independent national radio station in the UK * Absolute Software Corporation, specializes in security and data risk manage ...

) part of a sentence that describes the main subject and

verb A verb () is a word (part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descri ...

. It consists of a noun in the common case or a pronoun in the

nominative case In grammar, the nominative case (abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or (in Latin and formal variants of Engl ...

joined with a predicate that does not include a

finite verb Traditionally, a finite verb (from la, fīnītus, past participle of to put an end to, bound, limit) is the form "to which number and person appertain", in other words, those inflected for number and person. Verbs were originally said to be ''fin ...

and functioning usually as a sentence modifier, the most common being an adjective or a

participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...

(

present participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...

past participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...

in English). It is usually at the beginning or end of the sentence, although it can also appear in the middle. Its parallel is the

ablative absolute Latin syntax is the part of Latin grammar that covers such matters as word order, the use of cases, tenses and moods, and the construction of simple and compound sentences, also known as ''periods''. The study of Latin syntax in a systematic way ...

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, the

genitive absolute In Ancient Greek grammar, the genitive absolute is a grammatical construction consisting of a participle and often a noun both in the genitive case, which is very similar to the Latin grammar#Ablative absolute, ablative absolute in Latin. A genitiv ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

, or the

locative In grammar, the locative case (abbreviated ) is a grammatical case which indicates a location. It corresponds vaguely to the English prepositions "in", "on", "at", and "by". The locative case belongs to the general local cases, together with the ...

absolute in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

. One way to identify a nominative absolute is to add a

conjunction Conjunction may refer to: * Conjunction (grammar), a part of speech * Logical conjunction, a mathematical operator ** Conjunction introduction, a rule of inference of propositional logic * Conjunction (astronomy), in which two astronomical bodies ...

and a verb: one can often (though not always) create a subordinate clause out of a nominative absolute by adding a subordinating conjunction (such as "because" or "when") and a form of the verb ''to be''. Examples: Sentences with Nominative Absolute, : ''The dragon slain,'' the knight took his rest. : ''The battle over,'' the soldiers trudged back to the camp. : ''The truck finally loaded,'' they said goodbye to their neighbors and drove off. : We sit side by side, ''our legs touching,'' comfortable in the warm silence our two bodies create. : ''Spring advancing,'' the swallows arrived. Compared with Sentences with Clauses or Adverbial Prepositional Phrases, : ''Because the dragon was slain,'' the knight took his rest. : ''When the battle was over,'' the soldiers trudged back to the camp. : ''After the truck was finally loaded,'' they said goodbye to their neighbors and drove off. : ''With our legs touching,'' we sit side by side, comfortable in the warm silence our two bodies create. : ''When Spring was advancing,'' the swallows arrived.

References

Absolute Constructions
from the ''American Heritage Book of English Usage'' (1996).
Nominative Absolute
''Merriam-Webster Dictionary''.
Nominative Absolute
''Collins Dictionary''. English grammar Grammar Syntax {{English-lang-stub