Saturday, April 6, 2013

grammar - Function of 'unable to afford even one little failure' in this sentence

Consider this sentence:




And that is why so many of the richest people in the world were often people who made the most mistakes. J. Paul Getty was known for drilling many dry holes in his quest for oil. He was famous for dry holes. But what made him rich was that he finally drilled one that hit one of the bigggest oil fields in the world. The same is true for Thomas Edison, the man who reportedly failed 10,000 times before inventing the electric light. The reason I say most people are losers is simply because they live their lives unable to afford even one little failure. To be successful, you must be both a banker and a gamblert so you can afford to lose, because every gamler knows that losing is part of winning.





(from Rich Dad's Guide to Becoming Rich… Without Cutting Up Your Credit Cards (2000) by Robert T. Kiyosaki and ‎Sharon L. Lechter)



It seems that this is a appositive clause in which the word that was omitted. What I'm curious about is the phrase unable to afford even one little failure here. I am not sure if the phrase here is a adverbial modifier which modifies because they live their lives. I have Googled it, but was not able to find the answer.

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