{"id":16916,"date":"2013-02-20T09:00:37","date_gmt":"2013-02-20T16:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/?p=16916"},"modified":"2014-01-15T16:54:36","modified_gmt":"2014-01-15T23:54:36","slug":"absolute-phrases-on-the-gmat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/absolute-phrases-on-the-gmat\/","title":{"rendered":"Absolute Phrases on the GMAT"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>It is not uncommon for test takers, when sloughing through the thicket of\u00a0GMAT Sentence Correction<\/a>\u00a0questions to find themselves scratching their heads over a tricky little grammar conundrum known as \u00a0an\u00a0absolute phrase<\/strong>. What exactly are absolute phrases you ask? Well, before we dive into definitions and explanations, here are a couple of practice Sentence Correction questions:<\/p>\n

1) The United States has the largest\u00a0trade deficit<\/a>\u00a0of any country on Earth,\u00a0other nations, such as China and Japan, holding\u00a0stores of US dollars that increase each year.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. other nations, such as China and Japan, holding<\/li>\n
  2. and other nations, like China and Japan, holding<\/li>\n
  3. with other nations, like China and Japan, holding<\/li>\n
  4. other nations, like China and Japan, hold<\/li>\n
  5. other nations, such as China and Japan, hold<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    2) The state of California contains 58 counties,\u00a0of which some of them have\u00a0a population less than 10,000.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. of which some of them have<\/li>\n
    2. some of which having<\/li>\n
    3. some of them having<\/li>\n
    4. some of them have<\/li>\n
    5. some of which to have<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      You may see a pattern linking these two questions.\u00a0 Full explanations to these problems will come at the end of the post.<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      Modifiers<\/h2>\n

      Some\u00a0modifiers<\/a>\u00a0modify nouns --- these modifiers generally have to touch the noun they modifier.\u00a0\u00a0 Other modifiers modify verbs --- the placement rules for verb modifiers are a little looser than they are for noun modifiers.\u00a0 One type of modifier modifies not an individual word but the entire independent clause: these are called\u00a0absolute phrases<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      Absolute phrases<\/h2>\n

      An\u00a0absolute phrase<\/strong>\u00a0has the form [noun] + [noun modifier].\u00a0 It stands apart from the main clause of a sentence and modifies this main clause in some way.\u00a0 Examples include:<\/p>\n

      3)\u00a0Babe Ruth<\/em><\/a>\u00a0leads all major league baseball players in career slugging percentages,\u00a0<\/em>Ted Williams<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>Ty Cobb<\/em><\/a>\u00a0having been better hitters for average than for power<\/em>.<\/p>\n

      4)\u00a0Virginia Woolf<\/em><\/a>\u00a0refused to publish the novel<\/em>\u00a0Ulysses<\/a>\u00a0through her own Hogarth Press,\u00a0a slight that\u00a0<\/em>Joyce<\/em><\/a>\u00a0never forgave<\/em>.<\/p>\n

      5)\u00a0On October 31, 1517,\u00a0<\/em>Martin Luther<\/em><\/a>\u00a0nailed his famous<\/em>\u00a095 Theses<\/a>\u00a0to the door of the castle-church in Wittenburg,\u00a0this flashpoint igniting a\u00a0<\/em>Reformation<\/em><\/a>\u00a0that would transform religion in the Western World<\/em>.<\/p>\n

      6)\u00a0Holy Roman Emperor\u00a0<\/em>Joseph II<\/em><\/a>\u00a0famously criticized the opera<\/em>\u00a0The Marriage of Figaro<\/a>\u00a0for having \"too many notes\",\u00a0a slight that, in the eyes of subsequent generations, reveals how little he appreciated the full range of\u00a0<\/em>Mozart<\/em><\/a>'s genius<\/em>.<\/p>\n

      In those four, the underlined phrase is the absolute phrase.\u00a0 In #3 & #5, the form is [noun] + [participial phrase<\/a>], and in #4 & #6, the form [noun] + [\"that\" clause].\u00a0 In all four cases, the absolute phrase modifies or comments on the action at the center of the independent clause.<\/p>\n

      This grammatical form is rare, and it will not appear with tremendous frequency on the GMAT Sentence Correction.\u00a0 Nevertheless, it is 100% correct and, in fact, typical of formal writing, which makes it perfect for the GMAT.\u00a0 Learn to recognize this grammatical pattern ----- you will find it in more\u00a0high-brow reading<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 In a GMAT Sentence Correction question in which none of the answers seems to form a proper phrase or clause, it may be that an absolute phrase is lurking among the choices.\u00a0 With this in mind, take another look at those two practice questions above, before reading the explanations below.<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      Practice question explanations<\/h2>\n

      1)\u00a0Split #1: listing examples.\u00a0 Suppose we have a category C and examples in this category P and Q.\u00a0 It is grammatically incorrect to say \"\u2026. C, like P and Q.\" \u00a0\u00a0Choices\u00a0(B)<\/strong>\u00a0&\u00a0(C)<\/strong>\u00a0&\u00a0(D)<\/strong>\u00a0make this mistake. This mistake is woefully common in colloquial English, but entirely unacceptable on the GMAT.\u00a0 The correct way to say this is \" \u2026.\u00a0C, such as P and Q<\/strong>.\"<\/p>\n

      Split #2: The section of the sentence before the first comma is a full independent clause: this could stand on its own as a complete sentence.\u00a0 What happens after the first comma, at the very beginning of the underline section, varies wildly.\u00a0 Each choices requires its own analysis.<\/p>\n

      (A)<\/strong>\u00a0\"other nations \u2026 holding<\/em>\" ---- [noun] + [participle]: this has the form of an absolute clause, which is perfectly correct.<\/p>\n

      (B)<\/strong>\u00a0\"and<\/em>\u00a0other nations \u2026 holding<\/em>\" ---- the \"and\" implies another independent clause is coming, parallel to the first, but instead we get [noun] + [participle], which doesn't fit the pattern.\u00a0 This choice is incorrect.<\/p>\n

      (C)<\/strong>\u00a0\"with<\/em>\u00a0other nations \u2026 holding<\/em>\" ---- this structure is common in colloquial speech, but the GMAT doesn't like this at all: \"with\" + [noun] + [participle].\u00a0 The prepositions \"with\" is designed to hold a noun, maybe even a modified noun, but not an entire action.\u00a0\u00a0 This choice is incorrect.<\/p>\n

      (D)\u00a0<\/strong>&\u00a0(E)<\/strong>\u00a0\"other nations \u2026 hold<\/em>\" ---- This is [noun] + [verb], another full independent clause.\u00a0 By itself, everything after the first comma in these choices could stand as a complete sentence.\u00a0 The problem is --- we have [independent clause], [independent clause] --- that's the structure of a\u00a0run-on sentence<\/a>.\u00a0 We always need some kind of conjunction (and<\/em>,\u00a0or<\/em>,\u00a0but<\/em>,\u00a0therefore<\/em>, etc.) joining two independent clause: they can't just sit next to each other separated by a comma --- that's the classic run-on pattern.\u00a0\u00a0 Both of these choices are incorrect.<\/p>\n

      The only possible answer is\u00a0(A)<\/strong>, with the absolute phrase.<\/p>\n

      2) Here, we get clause construction as well as what is sometimes called a \"subgroup modifier\".<\/p>\n

      The word \"which\" is a\u00a0relative pronoun<\/strong>, and this means two important things.\u00a0\u00a0 First, \"which\" begins a subordinate clause that, like any clause, must have a full [noun] + [verb] structure.\u00a0 Second, the pronoun \"which\" itself is the subject of this subordinate clause.\u00a0\u00a0 Choices\u00a0(B)<\/strong>\u00a0&\u00a0(E)<\/strong>\u00a0run afoul of the first rule --- they follow \"which\" with a participle and an infinitive respectively, not a full bonafide verb.\u00a0\u00a0 Choice\u00a0(A)<\/strong>\u00a0has a bonafide verb, \"have\", but it gets in trouble with the second rule --- it has a double subject, the word \"which\" and the phrase \"some of them\" --- this would be a like the sentence, \"My sister she is smart\" --- the [noun] + [pronoun] structure is redundant and incorrect. Choice\u00a0(A)<\/strong>\u00a0makes exactly the same mistake.\u00a0 None of these three choices is correct.<\/p>\n

      The phrase \"some of them\" is a noun.\u00a0 If we follow a noun with a full verb \"have\", as\u00a0(D)<\/strong>\u00a0does, this creates an independent clause ---- everything after the comma could stand on its own as a complete sentence.\u00a0 Again, the problem is --- we have [independent clause], [independent clause] --- that's the structure of a\u00a0run-on sentence<\/a>.\u00a0 Choice\u00a0(D)<\/strong>\u00a0makes this mistake and is not correct.\u00a0\u00a0 Choice\u00a0(C)<\/strong>\u00a0follows the noun \"some of them\" with the participle \"having\" --- this is the [noun] + [participle] structure of an absolute phrase.\u00a0\u00a0 This is grammatically correct, and because there's a grave problem with each of the other four answer choices,\u00a0(C)<\/strong>\u00a0is the only possible answer.<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      So do you think you can you come up with your own tough\u00a0absolute phrases<\/strong>? Leave some head scratchers in the comment section!
      \nThis post was written by Mike McGarry, GMAT expert at       Magoosh<\/a>, and originally posted here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      It is not uncommon for test takers, when sloughing through the thicket of\u00a0GMAT Sentence Correction\u00a0questions to find themselves scratching their heads over a tricky little grammar conundrum known as \u00a0an\u00a0absolute…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,783,243,719,735],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gmat","category-magoosh-blog","category-blog","category-sentence-correction-gmat","category-verbal-gmat-blog","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/133"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16916"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16916\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22490,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16916\/revisions\/22490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}