Is it correct to use “taken” without an auxiliary (helping) verb?
For example:In some cases, a more powerful racial group justifies the domination and, horribly, even the complete destruction of ethnic or racial minorities they consider to be inferior. When taken to this extreme, genocides such as the European Holocaust and the massacre in Sudan have threatened to wipe out entire peoples. (source)
Answer
Compare the following, where the past-participle of the transitive verb to truck is used in a non-finite clause:
Tomatoes can rot when trucked long distances , so they are picked unripe.
When trucked long distances tomatoes can rot, so they are picked unripe.
The past participle of the transitive verb to take is used in your sentence
in the same way. In the collocation “to take {something} to an extreme”, something which has degree, broadly construed, is brought (by an absent someone) to an extreme degree.
The economic principle of free competition, when taken to an extreme, can result in great income disparities.
Attribution
Source : Link , Question Author : user338036 , Answer Author : TRomano