An absolute nominative is a type of sentence within a complex sentence that describes the main sentence. It contains a subjective noun and verb, separated by commas. It is often used in Latin and Ancient Greek and can be mistaken for a “leaning participle”.
An absolute nominative is the linguistic term given to a type of sentence within a complex sentence. It may seem like a separate sentence, albeit awkwardly constructed. A thoughtful reading, however, makes it apparent that the sentence describes the rest of the main sentence. Often, that relationship is merely descriptive; but it can be more subtle, such as a temporal or conditional consequence.
The word nominative comes from the Latin word for “name” and its reference in grammar are nouns used as the subject, not as the object of a verb. The word absolute comes from “loose”. An absolute noun phrase therefore must contain a subjective noun, completely different and separate from the nouns in the main phrase. To further loosen the sentence, the noun needs to be paired with a verb of some form, or multiple modifying adjectives, to complete a single thought. Finally, to complete the appearance of separation, the sentence is almost always, in English, punctuated by commas.
“Following her cubs, the female bear forded the stream.”
The absolute nominative in the sentence above is “Her cubs following”. The subjective noun is “puppies” and its accompanying verb form is the frequently used present participle of “follow.” The sentence, separated by a comma, is often at the beginning of a sentence, but can be placed anywhere. It appears to be a complete sentence on its own; and more complex sentences with such sentences can be separated with small corrections: “Her cubs followed her. The female bear has forded the stream.’
The most common minor reconstruction, particularly in spoken language, is to state the relationship between the nominative absolute and its main clause. In this case, it is a descriptive adjective of “the female bear” and the sentence may begin with the fully-voiced prepositional phrase “With her cubs following,…” to reflect that relationship. Alternatively, and just as commonly, the sentence can be expanded into a full adverbial clause, such as “Because her cubs were following,….”
The use of the nominative absolute in English probably derives from its common use in Latin and Ancient Greek. Upon encountering the structure in its written form, an inattentive reader who does not readily recognize its relation to the main clause may mistake the sentence to be one of the most common grammatical errors called a “leaning participle”, which is truly unrelated to any other word in the sentence . Other readers may feel that it is archaic or less than stylistic. The following example suggests that this type of statement is more than correct: “All things considered, everything should work as expected.”
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