Absolute Phrase

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Absolute Phrase
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Absolute PhraseAbsolutes are sentence parts that
describe the rest of the sentence in which they
appear. Absolutes are almost complete sentences.
As a test, you can make any absolute a sentence
by adding was or were.
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Another way to identify an absolute is that many
absolutes begin with the words my, his, her, its,
our, their (possessive pronouns). Absolutes can
occur as sentence openers, subject-verb splits,
or sentence closers. Examples are boldfaced.
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His hands raw, he reached a flat place at the
top. Richard Connell, The Most Dangerous Game
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Miss Hearne, her face burning, hardly listened to
these words. Brian Moore, The Lonely Passion
of Judith Hearne
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Those who had caught sharks had taken them to the
shark factory on the other side of the cove where
they were hoisted on a block and tackle, their
livers removed, their fins cut off, and their
hides skinned out, and their flesh cut into
strips for salting. (four closers)
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Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea
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High in the air, a little figure, his hands
thrust in his short jacket pockets, stood staring
out to sea. Katherine Mansfield, The Voyage.
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Each scrambled sentence has one or more absolute
phrases. Identify them. Then unscramble the
sentence parts and write out the sentence,
punctuating it correctly.
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a. Ib. each set upon a carved wooden basec.
looked across to a lighted case of Chinese
designd. which held delicate-looking statuese.
of horses and birds, small vases and bowls
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I looked across to a lighted case of Chinese
design which held delicate-looking statues of
horses and birds, small vases and bowls, each set
upon a carved wooden base.Ralph Ellison,
Invisible Man
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a. to light the cigaretteb. his throat sorec.
he forgotd. his head aching
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His head aching, his throat sore, he forgot to
light the cigarette.Sinclair Lewis, Cass
Timberlane
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a. while Buck struggled in furyb. then the rope
tightened mercilesslyc. and his great chest
pantingd. his tongue lolling out of his mouth
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Then the rope tightened mercilessly while Buck
struggled in fury, his tongue lolling out of his
mouth and his great chest panting.Jack London,
The Call of the Wild