This article investigates how speakers use att- and dass-clauses which have loose or no syntactic relationship to an element in the preceding discourse in authentic conversations in Swedish and German. The analysis is based on on-line syntax, which takes the temporal unfolding of speech in time into account (Auer 2005, 2007a, b, 2009). The results show that a) there is a continuum of att-/dass-clauses from those with a stronger to those with a looser or absent syntactic relationship to the preceding discourse; and that b) the function of the investigated att-/dass- clauses is to elaborate something said in the preceding discourse. On the general level, the functions of the att- and dass-clauses seem to be the same in Swedish and German conversations. Some differences can, however, be found concerning more specific functions of elaboration.