An anapodoton (from the Greek anapodosis: "without a main clause") is a rhetorical device related to the anacoluthon. It is a figure of speech or discourse that is an incomplete sentence, consisting of an object or complement without the requisite subject. The stand-alone subordinate clause suggests or implies a subject (a main clause), but this is not actually provided.
It is also said to occur when a main clause is left unsaid due to a speaker interrupting him/herself to revise a thought, thus leaving the initial clause unresolved, but then making use of it nonetheless by recasting and absorbing it into a new, grammatically complete sentence.
Though gramatically incorrect, anapodoton is a commonplace feature of everyday informal speech. It therefore appears frequently in dramatic writing and in fiction in the form of direct speech or the representation of stream of consciousness.
Examples: