parenthesis

Language

A parenthesis in rhetoric and linguistics refers to the entire bracketed text, not just to the enclosing marks used (so all the text in this set of round brackets may be described as "a parenthesis"). Taking as an example the sentence "Mrs. Pennyfarthing (What? Yes, that was her name!) was my landlady.", the explanatory phrase between the parentheses is itself called a parenthesis. Again, the parenthesis implies that the meaning and flow of the bracketed phrase is supplemental to the rest of the text and the whole would be unchanged were the parenthesised sentences removed. The term refers to the syntax rather than the enclosure method: the same clause in the form "Mrs. Pennyfarthing – What? Yes, that was her name! – was my landlady" is also a parenthesis. (In non-specialist usage, the term "parenthetical phrase" is more widely understood.)