Function in the clause (noun x adjective x adverb)

Something I wish I wouldn't come across during a test, expressions whose syntactic function seem a bit puzzling to pin down. How would you classify these?

A) Sam, ever the curious one, couldn't help asking about it.
B) A lifeguard, Tom was quick to save the drowning kid at the pool .
C) Timid, Ana is known to blush whenever smiled at.
D) Resolute, Ana walked out of the building right away.
E) Nicole, her head in her hands, was sitting at her desk staring at the blank screen, a writer and that uninvited block.

In each case, do the stressed terms identify the subject (as an appositive), qualify it, or reveal some kind of circunstance of the verb instead?

Bonus question:
In "e", her head in her hands
(the with hidden above, is there a figure of speech naming this or is it simply the leaving out of a preposition (ellipsis)?)