The outspoken abolitionist senator Charles Sumner, after delivering a

First of all the appositive and absolute phrase are completely different things. The one in option E is an absolute phrase, not an appositive. The difference is as follows:

An appositive is a noun or a noun phrase modifying another noun:
John, the most brilliant student in the class, could not solve this problem.
Tabby, my cat, is ill.

An absolute phrase on the other hand has the structure noun+noun modifier, and it modifies the complete clause (not any particular noun) in some way:

Here, "an action (that) Brooks carried out with impunity..." is an absolute phrase (noun= an action, noun modifier (that) Brooks carried out..."), and this absolute phrase modifies the whole clause "who bludgeoned the senator".

Coming to your example: "a position" is an appositive modifier for "account manager", but this appositive is again modified a relative clause ( modifier of modifier - appositive modifiers are nouns themselves). Thus the example that you gave and the option E use different types of modifiers.

A) gutta-percha cane, which Brooks was able to do with impunity, due to a tradition holding that---- wrong as per relative pronoun touch rule
B) gutta-percha cane, which Brooks carried out with impunity, owing to a tradition holding that --- same as in A
C) gutta-percha cane and was able to do this with impunity, owing to a tradition that held that ---- able ‘to do this with’ ----- ‘this’ is a spoken language contextual ‘word’
D) gutta-percha cane, being able to do so with impunity, based on a tradition that held that --- being able is used as a modifier to modify Brooks ; wrong
E) gutta-percha cane, an action Brooks carried out with impunity, owing to a tradition that held that, ----- The appositive noun modifier correctly describes the bludgeoning of the Senator by Brooks
 
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Daagh, how can 'bludgeoned' be a noun? 'an action brooks carried out...' is modifying cane, and bludgeoning is an action. Can you please elaborate on the reasoning behind E?

this is my understanding of appostive phrases -

Sam was promoted to Account Manager, a position which holds significant responsibility. In this sentence 'a position...' is modifies 'account manager' correctly and is an appositive phrase. Please correct me if im wrong. However in the above question, 'an action ....' is modifying 'bludgeoned the senator...' So can you explain how is it a noun modifier and an appositive phrase?

Thank you for your help.

Hello. Can you please elaborate the difference between "D" and "E". Why is answer choice "D" not correct?

MAGOOSH Official Explanation

Usual suspects

Wordiness

“being able to do so” Eliminate (D).

Ambiguity

The “this” in (C) is vague, since it doesn’t clearly refer to a noun.

Faulty modification

The “which” refers to a cane. However, one does not “carry out” a cane, one “carries a cane”. One does “carry out an action”. Eliminate (A) and (B).

Therefore, we do not want “which” but a summative modifier, or word, that aptly captures the preceding phrase. (E), which uses “action”, does a perfect job of doing so.

Answer: (E)

A) gutta-percha cane, which Brooks was able to do with impunity, due to a tradition holding that

Relative pronoun "which" wrongly modifies GPC. We need something that can refer to the action of "bludgeoning".

"which" can not refer to "entire clause/verb". It can only modify "noun/noun phrases"

B) gutta-percha cane, which Brooks carried out with impunity, owing to a tradition holding that

Relative pronoun "which" wrongly modifies GPC. We need something that can refer to the action of "bludgeoning".

"which" can not refer to "entire clause/verb". It can only modify "noun/noun phrases"

C) gutta-percha cane and was able to do this with impunity, owing to a tradition that held that

"this" can only refer to "nouns" and not to actions/results.

D) gutta-percha cane, being able to do so with impunity, based on a tradition that held that

Modification errors. "Based on a tradition...must modify a "noun".

"Being" is wrong in this context.

E) gutta-percha cane, an action Brooks carried out with impunity, owing to a tradition that held that

Correct
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