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Grammar pedants - help please.

97 watchers

Dvorak Aug 2024 10:38am, 28 Aug 2024 28,042 posts	0 Dvorak And after that, she further enhanced frontier practicality by inventing the Fannie Pack.
NordRunner Aug 2024 11:12am, 28 Aug 2024 4,501 posts	0 NordRunner … a bum bag with 1 cup capacity.
Red Squirrel Aug 2024 8:25pm, 28 Aug 2024 24,261 posts	0 Red Squirrel Fanny Get Your Bum (Bag)
sallykate Aug 2024 11:10pm, 28 Aug 2024 14,887 posts	0 sallykate That's really interesting about the cups rationale.
ChrisHB Sep 2024 10:38pm, 28 Sep 2024 23,217 posts	0 ChrisHB In this sentence Absent effective oversight, this is a real risk. is 'absent' a preposition, or are the first three words an absolute expression? Or something else? To me it smacks of an incompetent translation from a Latin ablative absolute.
Northern Exile Sep 2024 11:06pm, 28 Sep 2024 10,493 posts	0 Northern Exile Definitely not a preposition. You argue that it's a participle I suppose.
Cerrertonia Sep 2024 7:43am, 29 Sep 2024 21,999 posts	0 Cerrertonia It's a preposition, isn't it? US English uses absent as an adjective, as a verb and as a preposition. My very old OED shows it in this sense as chiefly US Law going back to the 19th century. Merriam-Webster online shows it as US Formal: merriam-webster.com
Northern Exile Sep 2024 8:30am, 29 Sep 2024 10,494 posts	0 Northern Exile Please explain that to me. I can understand its use as an adjective and/or a passive participle derived from the verb, but not as a preposition.
Muttley Sep 2024 8:37am, 29 Sep 2024 3,497 posts	0 Muttley It's an Americanism, used as a preposition, same as "without". Looks odd to me, though. merriam-webster.com
Cerrertonia Sep 2024 8:38am, 29 Sep 2024 22,000 posts	0 Cerrertonia It's used by Americans in a similar way to 'without'. Without is obviously a preposition too. Without one thing, another thing will occur. Absent this, something will happen.