In the comma test, the following sentence was provided: "The office can handle, well, four hundred applications per day."
Interjection was marked as the correct answer. But couldn't the commas flanking "well" also represent a parenthesis?
"A clause, phrase or word which is inserted (usually for explanation or amplification) into a passage which is already grammatically complete, and usually marked off with brackets, commas or dashes."
Are these definitions and synonyms of the word well not explanations? Using the first definition of well below, couldn't the test sentence just as easily say: "The office can handle, in a good or satisfactory way, four hundred applications per day"?
Adverb
1.in a good or satisfactory way.
"the whole team played well" synonyms: satisfactorily, nicely, correctly, properly, fittingly, suitably, appropriately
2.in a thorough manner.
"add the mustard and lemon juice and mix well" synonyms: carefully, closely, attentively, rigorously, in depth, exhaustively, in detail, meticulously, scrupulously, conscientiously, methodically, completely, comprehensively, fully, extensively, thoroughly, effectively
1. but if an adverb, why is is separated from the verb it modifies???
2. then it would be written: "The office can well handle four hundred applications per day"?
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To me, it's similar to:
"I got angry and, well, I hit him." where 'well' has the sense of '...and, OK I admit it, I hit him.
I can't get passed that I see it as an interjection. Its meaning in the given sentence might be:
"The office can handle, I think / in my opinion/ I'd say, four hundred applications per day"?