Parenthesis (rhetoric)

The parenthesis ( gr παρένθεσις Parenthesis "rack " ) is a rhetorical figure. It is a grammatically independent insertion, called a switching block in the whole set. The total sentence is interrupted by the insertion, its syntactic structure is not changed.

Mark

The inset is mostly enclosed by dashes inserted in the sentence; therefore the two dashes are themselves often referred to as parenthesis. Parentheses can also be separated by parentheses or commas from the rest of sentence.

Examples

• " Then I ask - a mistake was it, nothing more - for this rapid indeed for your forgiveness. " ( Heinrich von Kleist 's Penthesilea )
• " Today we associate with reading - much stronger than was the case earlier -. Loneliness "
• "One day, it was the middle of summer, it rained. "