The use of indefinite article next to a parenthetical

Asked Sep 20 '15 at 17:36

Active Sep 20 '15 at 17:36

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Context

Trevor was intrigued by the problem associated with the use of the indefinite article a. The two versions of the sentence that sparked this reaction are as follows:

Version Gamma:

The tragic element is this: it should not require an (ostensibly fairly rare and not-trivial-to-obtain) external substance to make such a thing an every-day reality.

Version Epsilon:

The tragic element is this: it should not require a ( fairly rare and not-trivial-to-obtain) external substance to make such a thing an every-day reality.

Questions

1) Is version Epsilon grammatically correct?
2) What is the technical nomenclature for the problem that occurs between ostensibly and fairly relative to their position to the indefinite article?

asked Sep 20 '15 at 17:36

dreftymac

Oh alpha and beta, we hardly knew ye. – Dan Bron Sep 20 '15 at 17:49
I thought that for every epsilon, there exists a delta. – deadrat Sep 20 '15 at 18:22
No. What you have is an aside. It is not part of the sentence and therefore does not affect anything. 2) I'm not sure exactly what you are asking.

VampDuc

Sep 21 '15 at 18:55

The first part is addressed by this question: “A/An” preceding a parenthetical statement – herisson Dec 16 '16 at 01:41

The use of indefinite article next to a parenthetical

Context

Questions

0 Answers0