- The ship having arrived, we all embarked.
- We shall sail on Tuesday, weather permitting.
- That done, repair to Pompey’s theatre.
- The bridge across the chasm being only a single tree trunk, we hesitated to attempt the passage.
In the first sentence, the adverbial absolute phrase, the ship having arrived, is equivalent to the adverbial prepositional phrase, on the arrival of the ship, and defines the time of the action expressed by the verb embarked.
V. INDIRECT OBJECT
480. The simple predicate may be modified by an indirect object ([§ 105]).
- He gave me a watch. [= He gave a watch to me.]
- Tom told me the whole story. [= Tom told the whole story to me.]
In these sentences, the indirect object me, being equivalent to a prepositional phrase, is an adverbial modifier.
The objective of service ([§ 106]) is also an adverbial modifier.
VI. COGNATE OBJECT
481. The simple predicate may be modified by a cognate object or by a phrase containing such an object ([§ 108]).
- The officer looked daggers at me [= looked at me angrily].
- The shepherd sang a merry song [= sang merrily].
- The skipper laughed a scornful laugh [= laughed scornfully].