Stylistics of inserted units

An inserted unit is a unit placed inside a sentence that explains the thought being stated or adds new information to it. It differs from an introductory unit in that an introductory unit expresses an attitude, while an inserted unit gives new information, an explanation or a reminder. It may be a word, a phrase or a sentence and is most often separated by brackets, sometimes by a dash. Because it ensures exactness and completeness of speech it occurs in all styles. In artistic and publicistic texts the writer uses an inserted unit to show a character’s particular way of speaking or to add his own attitude as a brief aside. If we drop an inserted unit, the main content of the sentence does not change, but the extra information is lost.