Question

Combine the following sentences using the absolute construction:
The student was absent. The teacher gave him a negative marking. [Advanced]

• A. The student was absent, so the teacher gave him a negative marking.
• B. The student having been absent, the teacher gave him a negative marking.
• C. Even though the student was absent, the teacher did not give him a negative marking.
• D. None of the above

Answer 1

Answer: (B)

The student having been absent, the teacher gave him a negative marking.

The absolute construction is a grammatical construction where the absolute (including a participle) modifies an entire sentence.
A nominative absolute is a free standing part of a sentence that describes the main subject and verb of that sentence. It can be placed before or after the sentence, and is usually a non-finite clause that does not express the tense of the sentence.
Option B contains the absolute construction, "The student having been absent" modifies the clause that follows. (In an absolute construction, the participle 'having' does not modify any noun, but the construction as a whole modifies the sentence.) Hence option B is correct.
Option A does not use an absolute construction, it uses the conjunction 'so'. Hence A is incorrect.
Option C also doesn't use an absolute construction, it uses the subordinating conjunction, 'even though'. Hence C is incorrect.
Option D is incorrect because the answer lies in B.