Adverb clause: his delight evident?

Question

I recently have come across a clause, *his delight evident*, reading a novel. Which I have found tricky to understand. I have been able to get to the meaning yet not to the structure it possesses. Here are some improvised sentences I've just made. - He ran over to me, his delight evident, and hugged me already. - "Absolutely," said the man, his delight evident. Could you please explain how the clause works? Thanks.

Answer 1

It seems to me the answer has to do with the position of the adjective evident. Adjectives can be employed 'attributively' and 'predicatively'. When an adjective is to the left of the noun it modifies it is called attributive. If it is to the right of the noun it is a predicative adjective. The latter is, normally, tied to the noun by a 'linking verb'. Example:

He put on his red shoes (attributive adjective)

His shoes were red (predicative adjective, the linking verb is were, a form of to be)

Sometimes, the linking verb can be omitted: The murderer left the room, his shoes ( ) red with blood.

Based on this analysis, we could perhaps argue that his delight evident is a clause with the linking verb omitted or merely implied: his delight (was) evident.

Answer 2

Hi, Ismael!

Let's dissect this phrase:

"his delight evident"

his - the possessive pronoun indicates the individual who is referenced (pretty straightforward)

delight - the noun possessed by the individual

evident - an adjective describing the noun

Essentially, the author has flipped the usual adjective-noun clause, which would have originally read "his evident delight" to a noun-adjective clause, thereby emphasizing the adjective, instead of the noun.

To elaborate, look at the following sentences:

"She gave him a gift, to his evident delight."

In this sentence, the delight is the emphasis. The delight is being characterized by the word "evident," but "evident" is merely a descriptor.

In contrast...

"He thanked her profusely, his delight evident."

In this sentence, the fact that the delight was obvious to those around him is the emphasis. While "evident" is still the descriptor of the delight, the fact that his delight was evident is more important to understand than that the individual was delighted in the first place.

Does this help?