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I have a question about why a parenthesis is necessary in a sentence instead of a relative clause: Why it should be:

Such an impact, many scientists believe, would have blocked the planet with debris.

Instead of:

Such an impact many scientists believe would have blocked the planet with debris.

I think I can understand the second one as "Many scientists believe such an impact would have blocked the planet with debris.

byw, it is a question from ACT English.

HypnoticBuggyWraithVirileBevy
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  • Look up "parenthetical phrase". – Hot Licks Sep 21 '20 at 02:57
  • There's no relative clause in your second example. What makes you think there is? – BillJ Sep 21 '20 at 08:59
  • @BillJ, I think it could be viewed as " such an impact (that) many scientists believe would have blocked the planet with debris," within which the antecedent is "an impact." – HypnoticBuggyWraithVirileBevy Sep 21 '20 at 12:51
  • "(That) many scientists believe would have blocked the planet with debris," is not a relative clause, but a declarative content clause functioning as a complement in the noun phrase "such an impact". In any case, it's the sentence as it's written that should be parsed. – BillJ Sep 21 '20 at 13:02
  • It's parenthetical because it can be taken out of the sentence and still leave the meaningful sentence. "Such an impact would have blocked the planet with debris". The parenthetical phrase "many scientists believe" softens the sentence and makes the statement less didactic but it does not, fundamentally, change the meaning. As it is parenthetical it is marked by commas. – BoldBen Sep 22 '20 at 00:02

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