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I was told that "not on purpose" cannot be used in the middle of a sentence. For example:

I was showering and, not on purpose, I participated in the #icebucketchallenge.

I am aware of the fact that there are more elegant expressions such as unwillingly, unwittingly etc etc but my question is: is the above correct? Am I allowed to use "not on purpose" in such a way?

I know there is no language police but there are, seemingly, rules. I posted a sentence in a forum with this expression and I was told it is incorrect to use it this way.

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    There is no such thing as language police. If you said it, and they understood it, it's fine.
    – Dan Bron
    Commented Aug 25, 2014 at 13:44
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    @DanBron en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_police
    – Wayfaring Stranger
    Commented Aug 25, 2014 at 13:46
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    @WayfaringStranger, fine, "no such thing as English language police", you damn copper ;)
    – Dan Bron
    Commented Aug 25, 2014 at 13:47
  • While it's not a construction that you'd use in very formal writing, there's really nothing wrong with this. if the aside (the "not on purpose" part) had been surrounded by em-dashes rather than commas, it might have seemed a little bit more idiomatic.
    – outis nihil
    Commented Aug 25, 2014 at 16:49
  • There also arises the question of whether or not one should worry about the formalities of grammar in any sentence that includes a hash tag.
    – bye
    Commented Aug 25, 2014 at 17:34

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you could also use 'accidentally' or 'unintentionally' instead of 'not on purpose'

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Shove a 'though' on the front of it, and you are fine.

I was showering and, though not on purpose, I participated in the #icebucketchallenge.

So I would say it is also just fine elliptically omitting the preposition. Since you set it off as a subordinate phrase, the contradistinction that the 'though' imparts is already implied.

It would also be reasonably expected if you moved the phrase after the verb.

I was showering and I participated, not on purpose, in the #icebucketchallenge.

Slightly better if you set it off as an intruding sentence fragment.

I was showering and I participated -- not on purpose -- in the #icebucketchallenge.

So there are many ways of making this sound smoother, but they are all window-dressing. It is fine as it is.

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