[Grammar] Absolute clause

[KSSEEJ]

[FONT=&quot]I have just learned the usage of absolute course in this forum, here comes two immediate questions
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]1)"There are heartbreaking stories of residents in Tung Chung, which has no government-operated wet market, being forced to pay 6.6 per cent more for groceries compared with citywide averages prices."[/FONT]



[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Its it better adding a subject "the residents" to the initial position of the absolute clause (in bold) , otherwise the sentence would be in bad style?[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]2) "Worrying about the upcoming social instability, the administration is working on every measure to put the citizens in ease"[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Can I not use absolute clause here by replacing "Worrying" with "Worry" , to make the clause only takes "verb + adverbial" ?
[/FONT]

 

[Raymott]

[FONT=&quot]I have just learned the usage of absolute course in this forum, here comes two immediate questions[/FONT]


[FONT=&quot]1)"There are heartbreaking stories of residents in Tung Chung, which has no government-operated wet market, being forced to pay 6.6 per cent more for groceries compared with citywide averages prices."[/FONT]


[FONT=&quot]Its it better adding a subject "the residents" to the initial position of the absolute clause (in bold) , otherwise the sentence would be in bad style?[/FONT]
Yes, it could be written better:
1)"There are heartbreaking stories from Tung Chung, which has no government-operated wet market, of residents being forced to pay 6.6 per cent more for groceries compared with citywide averages prices." - ie. "stories ... of residents."


[FONT=&quot]2) "Worrying about the upcoming social instability, the administration is working on every measure to put the citizens in ease"[/FONT]


[FONT=&quot]Can I not use absolute clause here by replacing "Worrying" with "Worry" , to make the clause only takes "verb + adverbial" ?[/FONT]
I'm not sure what you mean. Can you write the sentence?

You could say: "Worried about the upcoming ..."
"The administration, worried about the upcoming social instability, is working on every measure to put the citizens [STRIKE]in[/STRIKE] at ease"
That would probably be the most natural way of saying it.

 

[KSSEEJ]

You could say: "Worried about the upcoming ..."
"The administration, worried about the upcoming social instability, is working on every measure to put the citizens [STRIKE]in[/STRIKE] at ease"
That would probably be the most natural way of saying it.

Dear Raymott,

What I mean is to rewrite the sentence as "Worries about the upcoming social instability, the administration is working on every measure to put the citizen at ease"
Is it wrong for the rewrite?


As for the most natural way you suggested "The administration, worried about the upcoming social instability, is working on every measure to put the citizens"

Why it is better to use "Worried" rather than "Worrying" , To my knowledge, the administration is the agent (doer) of "worry" , which is also a progressive action. Could you please pinpoint my faults?

 

[5jj]

What I mean is to rewrite the sentence as "Worries about the upcoming social instability, the administration is working on every measure to put the citizen at ease"
Is it wrong for the rewrite?
Yes. That is not possible. If 'worries' is a verb, it has no subject; if it is a noun, there is no verb.

Why it is better to use "Worried" rather than "Worrying" , To my knowledge, the administration is the agent (doer) of "worry" , which is also a progressive action. Could you please pinpoint my faults?

They are more likely to be worried/concerned/troubled, than to be worrying. The social instability worries them - they are worried.

 

[rajan]

NOT A TEACHER

Let me also try. I may or may not be right.

You can make absolute clause like this

Residents worrying about the upcoming social instability, the administration is working on every measure to put the residents in ease

[FONT=&quot]I have just learned the usage of absolute course in this forum, here comes two immediate questions
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]1)"There are heartbreaking stories of residents in Tung Chung, which has no government-operated wet market, being forced to pay 6.6 per cent more for groceries compared with citywide averages prices."[/FONT]



[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Its it better adding a subject "the residents" to the initial position of the absolute clause (in bold) , otherwise the sentence would be in bad style?[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]2) "Worrying about the upcoming social instability, the administration is working on every measure to put the citizens in ease"[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Can I not use absolute clause here by replacing "Worrying" with "Worry" , to make the clause only takes "verb + adverbial" ?
[/FONT]

 

[5jj]

Residents worrying about the upcoming social instability, the administration is working on every measure to put the residents [STRIKE]in[/STRIKE] at ease.

Your suggestion is not very natural English We are more likely to say:
As residents are concerned/worried about ..

Please do not quote a post unless it is relevant to your response.

 

[rajan]

Dear Teacher,

Will follow your instruction.

Your suggestion is not very natural English We are more likely to say:
As residents are concerned/worried about ..

Please do not quote a post unless it is relevant to your response.

 

[TheParser]

[FONT=&quot]1)"There are heartbreaking stories of residents in Tung Chung, which has no government-operated wet market, being forced to pay 6.6 per cent more for groceries compared with citywide averages prices."[/FONT]


*** NOT A TEACHER ***


(1) I do not understand why you call the words in bold an "absolute clause."

(2) If you delete the words "which has no government-operated wet market,"

you get:

There are heartbreaking stories of residents (in Tung Chung) being forced to pay

6.6 percent more for groceries compared with citywide average prices.

(a) "being forced to ... citywide average prices" seems to be just a participial

phrase modifying "residents."

(3) Please remember that an absolute clause/phrase is defined as a noun + participle:

The teacher being ill, the students went home.
Hope lost, the men committed suicide.

 

[philo2009]

[FONT=&quot]I have just learned the usage of absolute course in this forum, here comes two immediate questions
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]1)"There are heartbreaking stories of residents in Tung Chung, which has no government-operated wet market, being forced to pay 6.6 per cent more for groceries compared with citywide averages prices."[/FONT]


[FONT=&quot]Its it better adding a subject "the residents" to the initial position of the absolute clause (in bold) , otherwise the sentence would be in bad style?[/FONT]

Personally, I see no reason to rewrite this sentence, except to delete the final 's' of 'averages' (presumably, a simple typo): otherwise, it's perfectly grammatical and meaningful as it stands.

You could, however, make the intervening relative clause (which has...market) less obtrusive by placing it in parentheses.

 

[eddy143]

could it also work this way? check it out too!


1)"There are heartbreaking stories from Tung Chung, which has no government-operated wet market, residents are forced to pay 6.6 per cent more for groceries compared with citywide averages prices.

2)"The administration, worried about the upcoming social instability, is working on every measure to put the citizens at ease" or
"The administration is worried about the upcoming social instability, thus, working on every measure to put the citizens at ease"

 

[SoothingDave]

1)"There are heartbreaking stories from Tung Chung, which has no government-operated wet market, residents are forced to pay 6.6 per cent more for groceries compared with citywide averages prices.

You've made it into a run on sentence. Make it into two sentences, starting with "Residents" and you are OK. Or add a "where" before "residents" and it can remain one sentence.

 

[KSSEEJ]

Thanks u all, ThePraser, again , thank you for pointing to my fault, you give me a much clear insight into " Absolute clause"

But I wanna know the relationship between the main clause and the absolute clause within a sentence is logical or sequential, for example

"A teacher coming, students keep quiet" (Becos of A teacher ’s coming, students keep quiet or when teacher is coming , student start to keep quiet )

Is there any other possible relationship that could be found in such kind of sentences?

 

[TheParser]

Thanks u all,

But I wanna know the relationship between the main clause and the absolute clause within a sentence is logical or sequential, for example

"A teacher coming, students keep quiet" (Becos of A teacher ’s coming, students keep quiet or when teacher is coming , student start to keep quiet )

Is there any other possible relationship that could be found in such kind of sentences?

I dare not answer without doing some research. I hope that a teacher answers before

I try, for that is an excellent question, and I want a language professional to give you

an accurate answer. (By the way, it's great that you are interested in absolute

clauses. Please remember, however, that they are usually confined to elegant

writing. If you used absolutes in conversation, people would laugh or, at the very

least, think you very strange!)

 

[TheParser]

Is there any other possible relationship that could be found in such kind of sentences?

NOT A TEACHER


Hello! It is I again.

(1) Before I share the information that I found, may I most respectfully suggest that you type "absolutes" in the search box at this website? You will find many helpful threads. And if you can google the word "absolute clauses," you will find enough results to keep you busy for months.

(2) Yes, you are 100% correct: the absolute can express many relationships.

(3) A Grammar of Present-Day English by Pence & Emery says that absolutes

usually express time, condition, cause, or concession.

(a) Here are two of their many examples:

(i) It being a nice day, let's have a picnic. (Since it is ....) Is that cause?
(ii) Weather permitting, we will have a picnic. (If the weather permits ...) Is that condition?

(4) English Review Grammar by Walter Kay Smart says that absolutes usually

express reason and time, but sometimes condition, concession, or manner.

(a) Here are two of his examples:

(i) His mind failing, he was sent to a sanitarium. (Is that reason?)

(ii) Dinner (being) over, we assembled in the parlor. (P.S. Please notice that sometimes you can delete the "being" if you want to.)

(iii) The boat lay at anchor, its flag flapping idly in the breeze. (P.S. Mr. Smart tells us this relationship is called accompanying circumstances. That is, two things happen at the same time.)

(b) Mr. Smart reminds us to be super careful. Here is an absolute:

The guests being hungry, dinner was served. (My note: this is something like "Because the guests were hungry, dinner was served.")

But this is NOT an absolute:

The guests, being hungry, took their seats at the table. (My note: this is something like "The guests, who were hungry, took their seats at the table.")