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In my native language, when an additional information needed in support of the subject we talk about, we do it in the following way

In the absence of Marty, Alberto will stand in for him. I should open brackets for Alberto. He has worked in the similar industry for 30 years and he ....

The UK and Ireland pledged to protect the deep ties of family and friendship. I'll open brackets for Ireland. They left the UK after 1921

We use "open brackets" term to say that "Get ready people, now I'll give a little bit of information about the person/thing."

Is there a native/natural way of doing that in English? Because I know that "open brackets" is not used in English in the way I used

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    First you tell 'em what you're going to tell 'em. Then you tell 'em. Then you tell 'em what you told 'em. Why not just tell them whatever "brief background info" you have in mind? If it's just an "open brackets, parenthetical aside", maybe all you're really doing is telling the audience they can switch off for a few seconds, because what you're about to tell them is just peripheral / parenthetical background stuff, not the "meat" of whatever you're saying. Possible English "equivalents" include A little bit of background about XXX... Commented Apr 12, 2020 at 16:29
  • "A little bit of background about XXX..." is too formal. It doesn't go with the flow when you're talking. Your suggestion could be used in a formal document.
    – Melih
    Commented Apr 12, 2020 at 17:31
  • As a native speaker, "A little bit of background about..." does not strike me as formal at all. Commented Apr 17, 2020 at 4:40

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One key phrase for this situation is "by the way". It means, I'm about to tell you something that isn't directly the cause or result of what I just told you, but more a (maybe weakly) related fact about something we just talked about.

To fit it into your examples,

In the absence of Marty, Alberto will stand in for him. By the way, Alberto has worked in the similar industry for 30 years and he...

(Note: "by the way" is a bit informal, so you might not use it when presenting an important fact like this to a customer or client)

The UK and Ireland pledged to protect the deep ties of family and friendship. By the way, Ireland left the UK after 1921

A more realistic example of the kind of informal situation you might use this,

I'll introduce you to John later. By the way, John was best man at my wedding, so he'll know most of the other people at the party already.

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