A friend pointed me to the Wikipedia entry on parenthetical phrases under the entry on “The Comma”.
First, I find the fact that the “Comma” gets an entry a bit funny but, as you know, I’m easily amused.
Second, witness:
- Address: My father ate the bagel, John.
- Interjection: My father ate the bagel, gosh darn it!
- Aside: My father, if you don’t mind my telling you this, ate the bagel.
- Appositive: My father, a jaded and bitter man, ate the bagel.
- Absolute phrase: My father, his eyes flashing with rage, ate the bagel.
- Free modifier: My father ate the bagel, chewing with unbridled fury.
- Resumptive modifier: My father ate the bagel, a bagel which no man had yet chewed.
- Summative modifier: My father ate the bagel, a feat which no man had attempted.
- Any phrase that interrupts the flow of the main clause:
- My father, chewing with unbridled fury, ate the bagel (free modifier).
- My father, in a fit of rage, ate the bagel (prepositional phrase).
- My father, with no regard for his health, ate the bagel (adverbial phrase).
- My father, despite his lack of teeth, ate the bagel (adverbial phrase).
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