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Can all parenthetical phrases be moved to somewhere else in the sentence, without loss of meaning?

I just tried it with about 5 parenthetical phrases, examples from a grammar site, and I think they all could be.

  • Can all parenthetical phrases be moved, without loss of meaning, to somewhere else in the sentence?

Is perhaps a bad example, as I'm bad at identifying parenthetical information, else I would not be asking the question at all. I'm aware they are inessential to the sentence but not if that means they can be moved or not.


  • Can all parenthetical phrases be, to somewhere else in the sentence, moved?

This seems to deform the sentence structure, and it surely is not parenthetical, despite it arguably being in some sense inessential.

  • Can all parenthetical phrases be moved?

Can all parenthetical phrases be moved to the moon, to the back of the bus? What about the bold prepositional phrase here?

  • Talk to me in your normal voice.

It definitely adds essential information: I'm not asking you to talk to me if you won't do so normally.

  • Talk in your normal voice to me.

This movement seems to deform the sentence, command. I suppose emphasis seems to have shifted from asserting the wish for you not to be silly, to asserting you talk to me but without being silly. But I'd hesitate before parenthesising 'I suppose', despite it being a suitable candidate for shifting position and not emphasis.

  • Emphasis, I suppose, seems to have shifted

What rules govern whether a parenthetical phrase can be moved somewhere else?

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    I'm not sure appositives can. They would, of course, cease to be appositives. My sister, Susan, is a fool. I think 'Susan' can only be moved if you add another comma: Susan, my sister, is a fool. Apologies if this is annoying... –  Aug 13 '22 at 03:58
  • I'm thinking, RE "emphasis", that any and only inessential information can be erased or moved without changing the sentence's rhetoric. But that is probably just insane. –  Aug 13 '22 at 07:57
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    One 'rule' concerning the placement of elements in a sentence is the 'principle of end-focus'. This principle may underlie your preference for 'Talk to me in your normal voice'. https://www.thoughtco.com/end-focus-sentence-structure-1690593#:~:text=In%20English%20grammar%2C%20end%2Dfocus,of%20sentence%20structures%20in%20English. – Shoe Aug 13 '22 at 10:34
  • How could that not depend on context? – Robbie Goodwin Sep 02 '22 at 21:59

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