An anapodoton (from Ancient Greek ἀναπόδοτον anapódoton: "that which lacks an apodosis, that is, the consequential clause in a conditional sentence), plural anapodota, is a rhetorical device related to the anacoluthon; both involve a thought being interrupted or discontinued before it is fully expressed.
It is a figure of speech or discourse that is an incomplete sentence, consisting of a subject or complement without the requisite object.
[1] As an intentional rhetorical device, it is generally used for set phrases, where the full form is understood, and would thus be tedious to spell out, as in "When in Rome [do as the Romans]."
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.
It, therefore, appears frequently in dramatic writing and in fiction in the form of direct speech or the representation of stream of consciousness.