Appositive Vs. Absolute phrase

[target.gmat.2010]

Hi,

How to find out that any noun phrase is either appositive or absolute phrase if in a sentence:

1. Both of them are used in between the sentence with paired ","
2. Both of them are placed next to another noun.

If possible kindly explain thru the examples below:

1. Guillermo, his arm in pain, Guillermo strode out of the building. (Little modified exp of absolute phrase of MGMAT SC 4th edition, pg number. 291 )
2. The coach, an old classmate of mine, was not pleased. (exp of appositive of MGMAT SC 4th edition, pg number 292)

Thank you.

[anshu.mishra]

This is from my notes (which i made reading somewhere on net) :

Appositives rename noun phrases and are usually placed beside what they rename .
The following example shows a noun phrase in apposition to another:
The lady, our president, spoke out against racism.

"Our president" renames the subject "the lady" and so is
in apposition to it.

Absolute phrases are made of nouns or pronouns followed by a participle and any modifiers of the noun or pronoun. Absolute phrases contain a subject (unlike participial phrases), and no predicate. They serve to modify an entire sentence : A group of words that modifies an independent clause as a whole.

Joan looked nervous, her fears creeping up on her.
noun/subject: her fears
participle: creeping
modifier: up on her
absolute phrase: her fears creeping up on her

Tom paled when he came home, his mother standing in the
doorway.
noun/subject: his mother
participle: standing
modifier: in the doorway
absolute phrase: his mother standing in the doorway


I am sure, you can now answer your question yourself.

Thanks

[dmitryknowsbest]

You need to use meaning to distinguish between appositives and absolute phrases. Since absolute phrases are modifiers, they will usually contain a different kind of information than an appositive. In sentence 1, "his arm in pain" modifies Guillermo. It wouldn't make sense to say that Guillermo and "his arm in pain" are the same thing. (Note also that the sentence begins with "His arm." It would not be correct to place the name Guillermo both before and after the phrase.)

In the appositive example, the coach is also an old classmate. Since it makes sense for a coach to be the same as an old classmate, we can see that this is an appositive.

The second example of an absolute phrase ("The car fell into the lake, the cold water filling the compartment.") is a bit more tricky. It is possible for "the lake" and "the cold water filling the compartment" to be the same thing, so we could interpret this as an appositive. However, since a lake is something everyone should be familiar with, it makes more sense to read this as an absolute phrase. The second portion of the sentence does not modify the word "lake," but rather describes the result of the event mentioned in the first half of the sentence.

To sum up, you know you are dealing with an appositive when it seems logical to think of the two adjacent nouns as identical. If the noun in the modifying phrase is *doing* something ("He stepped out of the car, his leg bleeding badly."), you are probably dealing with an absolute phrase.

[target.gmat.2010]

Thanks a lot dmitryknowbest and anshu.

Regards,
Kapil

[jnelson0612]

Thank you to all.

[RichaChampion]

Hello Ron Sir,

I have some Confusion regarding the structure of Appositive Modifier and Absolute Phrase.

I had a magoosh subscription some times back that stated that the Absolute phrases has this kind of Structure -
[Noun/Pronoun] [Participial Phrase]

And I also verified it then by an article published here.

But later while diving more deeper I came across an article here, which says that absolute phrases posses the structure of the form [noun] + [noun modifier].

If the above mentioned structure is correct that Noun Modifier can also be a prepositional phrase?

So Please help me with the structure of the absolute Phrases.



_______________________________________________________________________________________________

I have taken few notes on your discussion with Appositives Modifiers.

An appositive noun modifier, a type of modifier that NEVER appears in spoken language but that appears on the GMAT a lot. The reason is that, unlike relative pronouns such as 'which', these modifiers don't have to touch their referent always.

For instance: The general tried to get his troops to retreat before being surrounded, a strategy that ultimately failed.

Exceptions - If you have an appositive modifier that's an abstract noun - such as "strategy", "figure", "statistic", "findings", "situation", "change", "difference", etc. - then such an appositive may be allowed to describe the entire situation described in the previous clause.
For instance, the example I gave above with "a strategy..."Also, for further examples, see #59 and #79 in the purple verbal supplement OG book.
In #79 this modifier is part of the underline and is useful in choosing the correct answer. In #59 it's not part of the underline, so you don't have to use it, but you're exposed to it so that you can use it later.
More on Appositive Modifiers.



Major Take-Aways from Manhattan Blog – What to remember for appositives:

1. The definition: An appositive is a modifier; it is placed next to some other word or phrase, and it is a synonym of or possible replacement for that other word or phrase.
2. Most of the time, appositives are used as noun modifiers and contain nouns themselves, but they can also be adverbial modifiers.
3. Non-essential appositives must be set off from the core of the sentence by punctuation marks; essential appositives are not set off from the rest of the sentence by punctuation marks.
4. Appositives can be placed before or after the word or phrase they modify, and they can modify an entire phrase rather than just a single word.

Detailed Discussion –
Link #1
Link #2
Question 2 Practice

My Questions on Appositive Modifier -
1. Are their any structures for appositives modifiers too? This definition from a Manhattan blog gives a lot of sense to me : "An appositive is a modifier; it is placed next to some other word or phrase, and it is a synonym of or possible replacement for that other word or phrase."
2. I have one more understanding that normally appositives obeys the touch rule, but If you have an appositive modifier that's an abstract noun - such as "strategy", "figure", "statistic", "findings", "situation", "change", "difference", etc. - then such an appositive may be allowed to describe the entire situation described in the previous clause.

[tim]

I'll tell you what. I'll be happy to address this issue if you can give me an example (from an actual SC problem) of how any of this is ever relevant to the GMAT. It looks like most of this discussion is just a philosophical inquiry into what we should call something, which has no direct bearing on anything the GMAT tests you on.

[RichaChampion]

I'll tell you what. I'll be happy to address this issue if you can give me an example (from an actual SC problem) of how any of this is ever relevant to the GMAT. It looks like most of this discussion is just a philosophical inquiry into what we should call something, which has no direct bearing on anything the GMAT tests you on.

No No Sir I didn't asked it just with the Philosophical point of view. My Understanding for Noun appositives is that they modify immediately preceding noun before the comma.

However there are some exceptions. This is Ron Sir's comment:

An appositive noun modifier, a type of modifier that NEVER appears in spoken language but that appears on the GMAT a lot. The reason is that, unlike relative pronouns such as 'which', these modifiers don't have to touch their referent.
For instance: The general tried to get his troops to retreat before being surrounded, a strategy that ultimately failed.
Exceptions - If you have an appositive modifier that's an abstract noun - such as "strategy", "figure", "statistic", "findings", "situation", "change", "difference", etc. - then such an appositive may be allowed to describe the entire situation described in the previous clause.
For instance, the example I gave above with "a strategy..."Also, for further examples, see #59 and #79 in the purple verbal supplement OG book.

Now I Know how appositives(Noun) behave in GMAT. what about absolute phrase? do they modify closest noun or entire clause preceding the comma or do they have some exceptions too? I think it is very important to clear this understanding


Ok Sir. There is one question that I was doing in the morning it is OG 13 Q53. I think the questions from that source can't be posted here.

I am giving its link on some other forum, which also has ron sir comment.

This example used appositive I think.

My question: Do absolute phrases behaves or modify differently from appositives one? If the answer is yes then my question becomes very important how to distinguish appositives from absolute phrases.

[tim]

The problem here is you are continuing to attempt to attach labels to things rather than dealing with the things themselves. It is better for you to identify concrete examples and look at how they work or don't work in specific contexts so that you can develop your own understanding apart from trying to categorize things with labels that just add an extra layer of unnecessary abstraction. Again, if you can provide a specific example from a GMAT question where it makes a difference whether we classify something as an absolute phrase or an appositive, then we're in business.

[ZoeZ42]

You need to use meaning to distinguish between appositives and absolute phrases. Since absolute phrases are modifiers, they will usually contain a different kind of information than an appositive. In sentence 1, "his arm in pain" modifies Guillermo. It wouldn't make sense to say that Guillermo and "his arm in pain" are the same thing. (Note also that the sentence begins with "His arm." It would not be correct to place the name Guillermo both before and after the phrase.)

In the appositive example, the coach is also an old classmate. Since it makes sense for a coach to be the same as an old classmate, we can see that this is an appositive.

The second example of an absolute phrase ("The car fell into the lake, the cold water filling the compartment.") is a bit more tricky. It is possible for "the lake" and "the cold water filling the compartment" to be the same thing, so we could interpret this as an appositive. However, since a lake is something everyone should be familiar with, it makes more sense to read this as an absolute phrase. The second portion of the sentence does not modify the word "lake," but rather describes the result of the event mentioned in the first half of the sentence.

To sum up, you know you are dealing with an appositive when it seems logical to think of the two adjacent nouns as identical. If the noun in the modifying phrase is *doing* something ("He stepped out of the car, his leg bleeding badly."), you are probably dealing with an absolute phrase.

Hi instructors,

I am confused as well.

I have an incorrect example on hand.

[OG problem redacted]

[JohannaH678]

.

[RonPurewal]

OG problems cannot be discussed here. please do not post them, or any parts of them.

thank you.