This book investigates the reasons for the variability of absolute constructions, arguing that the logical relation between an absolute construction and the clause which it modifies may depend on a variety of factors - that this relation is, in some cases, determined by the semantic properties of an overt operator appearing in the modified clause, but must, in other cases, simply be inferred. Stump presents a detailed account of the function of absolute constructions in the modal, temporal, and aspectual subsystems of English grammar.