The Arden Reference Grammar

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Absolute dative

The absolute dative construction is an alternate strategy for encoding adjunct clauses without overtly specifying their semantics. In this, it may be viewed as notionally similar the the gerund in English.

The absolute dative is rather different in its structure from other kinds of Arden embedded clauses. In this construction the verb and its subject take the dative case. No cross-referencing is used, and the subject cannot be dropped.

Other verb arguments and complements may be added with the usual marking, but the preferred form of absolute dative only includes the verb and its subject.

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