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I'm curious to hear some thoughts on whether this sentence is grammatically acceptable. Although it reads fine in my head, I feel a bit uncomfortable placing although after the word which.

[...] our process which, although terribly undefined, had sufficient similarities to [...]

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    Is 'terribly' the pure bleached intensifier here? 'Very undefined' seems to push the bounds a bit. It may be correct, but it takes a lot of analysing.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Apr 27, 2022 at 11:39
  • Which is the subject of had, so the adverbial clause although .. undefined is sitting right where adverbs go -- before the main verb when there's no auxiliaries.
    – John Lawler
    Commented Apr 27, 2022 at 19:17
  • The clause between the commas is a "parenthetical", and can be deleted without "breaking" the syntax.
    – Hot Licks
    Commented Aug 25, 2022 at 12:45

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Although terribly undefined is a parenthetical clause (more specifically a free modifier), no doubt, grammatically acceptable. Delimitation by commas does help, though the phrase could stand without them, too.

In essence, a parenthetical is just a phrase that is not essential to the rest of the sentence. However, just because it isn’t essential does not mean that it isn’t important. When used correctly, a parenthetical can add crucial new information to a sentence without disrupting the flow. (University of Nevada, Reno)

But it is true that which although can sound a bit of a mouthful. In such cases, using the more seamless though can help:

our process which, though terribly undefined, had sufficient similarities to...

Both although and though can be used to introduce reduced clauses. (Cambridge)

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  • Though the first block quote goes on to spell this out, 'In essence, a parenthetical is a phrase that is not essential to ensure the grammaticality of the rest of the sentence' is more felicitous.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented May 22, 2023 at 10:37
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That comma saves the meaning - it separates your subordinate clause nicely.

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    The meaning would not change without the commas.
    – RegDwigнt
    Commented Jun 9, 2019 at 20:17
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    @RegDwigнt The meaning might not change without the commas but it would become much less clear.
    – BoldBen
    Commented Jun 10, 2019 at 0:34

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