Difference between Appositive and Absolute phrases.

winniethepooh wrote:I want to know what is the difference between an Appositive phrase and an Absolute phrase.
Appositive:1.The car fell into the lake, the cold water filling the compartment.
__________ 2.His arm in pain, Guillermo strode out of the building.

Absolute:The coach, an old classmate of mine, was not pleased.

Also, is its implication important for us to understand? (as in, does it affect our ability to answer the questions correctly?)
How do we deal with them during the test?

winniethepooh wrote:I want to know what is the difference between an Appositive phrase and an Absolute phrase.
Absolute:1.The car fell into the lake, the cold water filling the compartment.
_________2.His arm in pain, Guillermo strode out of the building.

Appositive:The coach, an old classmate of mine, was not pleased.

Also, is its implication important for us to understand? (as in, does it affect our ability to answer the questions correctly?)
How do we deal with them during the test?

SticklorForDetails wrote:

winniethepooh wrote:I want to know what is the difference between an Appositive phrase and an Absolute phrase.
Absolute:1.The car fell into the lake, the cold water filling the compartment.
_________2.His arm in pain, Guillermo strode out of the building.

Appositive:The coach, an old classmate of mine, was not pleased.

Also, is its implication important for us to understand? (as in, does it affect our ability to answer the questions correctly?)
How do we deal with them during the test?

#2 is an appositive: "His arm in pain" modifies "Guillermo".
MGMAT states it as an absolute phrase example.

I can't think of a way in which this difference would matter on the GMAT. The GMAT uses many modifiers, including absolute modifiers, appositive modifiers, and summative modifiers, to convey meaning. They are all absolutely acceptable as long as the meaning is clear. The GMAT will test errors in modification, meaning modifiers that are ambiguous (it's unclear what they modify), misplaced (they modify logically the wrong thing), or dangling (there is no appropriate noun anywhere for them to modify). All of your examples above are acceptable modification and no one construction is better than another as long as they are clear, meaning, error-free.
So, does it mean that whether a modifier is an appositive or an absolute doesn't matter?
I mean, isn't there a treatment difference with what we can use after or before the absolute or appositive phrases.