Absolute and Verbless Supplementary Clauses —
Forms in Context.

Question 1

In "A folder under her arm, the inspector entered the warehouse", the opening supplement is _____.

Options: absolute but not verbless, both absolute and verbless, verbless but not absolute

Question 2

In "Expecting a difficult discussion, the delegates arrived early", the opening supplement is _____.

Options: absolute and participial, subjectless and verbless, subjectless and participial

Question 3

The last visitor _____, the curator locked the exhibition hall.

Options: having departed, had departed, has departed

Question 4

In "Sirens wailing in the distance, the residents gathered outside last night", wailing describes _____.

Options: an event located in the present by its ending, an ongoing circumstance in a past setting, an event necessarily completed before the gathering

Question 5

The consent form _____ by the patient, the nurse filed it with the other documents.

Options: signing, was signed, signed

Question 6

No compromise _____, the mediator arranged another meeting.

Options: having been reached, has been reached, had been reached

Question 7

For an everyday message rather than a literary narrative, _____ is the less conspicuous version of "The kitchen out of use, we ordered supper".

Options: The kitchen being out of use, we ordered supper, With the kitchen out of use, we ordered supper, The kitchen having become unusable, we ordered supper

Question 8

Nobody saw the assistant leave. She slipped out _____.

Options: with everyone noticing, with someone noticing, without anyone noticing

Question 9

In "Weather permitting, the sculpture will be installed on Friday", the opening expression presents suitable weather as _____.

Options: a condition for the installation, an established cause of a completed installation, a detail that cannot affect the installation

Question 10

In "The inspection having ended, the manager called her brother", the perfect participle itself establishes _____.

Options: that the inspection caused the call, that the inspection ended before the call, that the inspection ended during the call

Question 11

In "Although apprehensive, Omar accepted the invitation", although marks _____. In "While still an apprentice, he designed the sign", while marks _____. In "When ready, the replacement parts will be dispatched", ready describes _____.

Options: cause, concession, sequence, time, purpose, result, the person dispatching the parts, the recipient of the parts, the replacement parts

Question 12

The intended meaning is that the interpreter was still hoarse. Choose the main clause with clear ordinary attachment: "Still hoarse, _____." To give the interpreter an independent subject instead, write: "_____, the chair postponed the interview."

Options: the interpreter asked for a break, a break was requested by the interpreter, the interview was paused at the interpreter’s request, Still hoarse, Being still hoarse, The interpreter still hoarse

Question 13

Compare "His expression blank, the applicant stared at the desk" with "His expression being blank, the interviewer could not tell whether he understood". The safest analysis is that _____.

Options: both explicitly state a cause because both are absolute, the first favours visual description, while the second invites a causal reading, the first is ungrammatical because being cannot be omitted

Question 14

In "Ruth, the lead architect, presented the model", the lead architect is normally _____.

Options: an absolute with its own subject and predicate, a participial supplement describing an action, an appositive noun phrase identifying Ruth

Question 15

Using commas rather than dashes, the correctly punctuated medial supplement is _____. Moving that description to the end would normally _____.

Options: The lecturer, her tone now brisk, outlined the next task., The lecturer, her tone now brisk outlined the next task., The lecturer her tone now brisk, outlined the next task., make the description an explicit reason, add the description after the main assertion, remove the supplement’s own grammatical subject