What is an absolute in Language arts?  My teacher wants me to give an example of an absolute and absolute phrase, and I can find what an absolute phrase is, but not an absolute by itself...Help please

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.

Examples:
     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

Source: http://www.ucalgary.ca/UofC/eduweb/grammar/course/sentence/2_4e.htm

Yes I have that.  My question is what is an absolute? Not an absolute phrase.

quote:

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Originally posted by http://www.answers.com/absolute&r=67

6. Grammar.

   1. Of, relating to, or being a word, phrase, or construction that is isolated syntactically from the rest of a sentence, as the referee having finally arrived in The referee having finally arrived, the game began.
   2. Of, relating to, or being a transitive verb when its object is implied but not stated. For example, inspires in We have a teacher who inspires is an absolute verb.
   3. Of, relating to, or being an adjective or pronoun that stands alone when the noun it modifies is being implied but not stated. For example, in Theirs were the best, theirs is an absolute pronoun and best is an absolute adjective.

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OK thanks, now could someone please give me an example of an adjective out of order???

Adjectives shifted out of order amplify the details of the image.

Adjective out of order painted by Newton Peck in A Day No Pigs Would Die:

I could smell Mama, crisp and starched, plumping my pillow, and the cool muslin pillowcase touched both my ears as the back of my head sank into all those feathers.

blah, i thought it was a thread about vodka....

:/