What is Anaclitic?

Anaclitic, from the Greek "anaklinein" meaning "to lean on", refers to a type of word order in which a dependent clause or phrase is placed at the end of a sentence. This word order is also known as "anacoluthon".

In an anaclitic sentence, the main clause comes first, followed by one or more dependent clauses or phrases that provide additional information or context. The dependent clauses are typically set off by a conjunction or a pronoun that refers back to the main clause.

Here's an example of an anaclitic sentence: "I told him that I had forgotten my keys, but I had actually left them on the table." In this sentence, the main clause is "I told him," and the dependent clauses are "that I had forgotten my keys" and "but I had actually left them on the table." The dependent clauses provide additional information about the situation and are set off by the conjunctions "that" and "but."