Nominative absolute
In English grammar, a nominative absolute is a free-standing part of a sentence that describes the main subject and verb. It is usually at the beginning or end of the sentence, although it can also appear in the middle. Its parallel is the ablative absolute in Latin, the genitive absolute in Greek, or the locative absolute in Sanskrit.
One way to identify a nominative absolute is to add a conjunction and a verb: one can often create a subordinate clause out of a nominative absolute by adding a subordinating conjunction and a form of the verb to be.
;Examples
In each case, if a conjunction such as "after" or "because" were added before the nominative absolute as well as the verb "was", the absolute would become a subordinate clause.
