Text between items of enumerate without using enumitem

Question

Hello I want to do an explanation between the items of a enumerate environment, I found this:

\newcounter{saveenumerate}
\makeatletter
\newcommand{\enumeratext}[1]{%
\setcounter{saveenumerate}{\value{enum\romannumeral\the\@enumdepth}}
\end{enumerate}
#1
\begin{enumerate}
\setcounter{enum\romannumeral\the\@enumdepth}{\value{saveenumerate}}%
}
\makeatother

And I thought it work, but the problem is that if I change the numbers of enumerate with letters, it fails, as in the following example:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{enumerate}
\newcounter{saveenumerate}
\makeatletter
\newcommand{\enumeratext}[1]{%
\setcounter{saveenumerate}{\value{enum\romannumeral\the\@enumdepth}}
\end{enumerate}
#1
\begin{enumerate}
\setcounter{enum\romannumeral\the\@enumdepth}{\value{saveenumerate}}%
}
\makeatother

\begin{document}
A list:
\begin{enumerate}[a)]
\item number 1
\item things note usefull,
\item hello mom, I am famous;
\enumeratext{Some intertext}
\item not really, so sad.

\end{enumerate}

\end{document}

Any idea would help, I know the use of [resume] in enumitem, but using that package I don't know how to change the numbers for letters. Thanks.

Answer 1

The underlying assumption is that you insist on using enumerate rather than enumitem. There are valid reasons for that, but the inability of enumitem to provide lists that are numbered by roman numerals is not one of them because enumitem can do that.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{enumitem}
\begin{document}
A list:
\begin{enumerate}[label=\alph*)]
  \item number 1
 \item things note useful,
 \item hello mom, I am famous;
\end{enumerate} 
Some intertext
\begin{enumerate}[resume*]
 \item not really, so sad.
\end{enumerate}
\end{document}

Anyway, we assume that there is such another reason like that you did everything else with enumerate or some incompatibility. Then you could do

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{enumerate}
\newcounter{saveenumerate}
\makeatletter
\def\enumerate{%
  \xdef\@last@enumerate@arg{none}%
  \ifnum \@enumdepth >3 \@toodeep\else
      \advance\@enumdepth \@ne
      \edef\@enumctr{enum\romannumeral\the\@enumdepth}\fi
  \@ifnextchar[{\@@enum@}{\@enum@}}
\def\@@enum@[#1]{%
  \xdef\@last@enumerate@arg{#1}%
  \@enLab{}\let\@enThe\@enQmark
  \@enloop#1\@enum@
  \ifx\@enThe\@enQmark\@warning{The counter will not be printed.%
   ^^J\space\@spaces\@spaces\@spaces The label is: \the\@enLab}\fi
  \expandafter\edef\csname label\@enumctr\endcsname{\the\@enLab}%
  \expandafter\let\csname the\@enumctr\endcsname\@enThe
  \csname c@\@enumctr\endcsname7
  \expandafter\settowidth
            \csname leftmargin\romannumeral\@enumdepth\endcsname
            {\the\@enLab\hspace{\labelsep}}%
  \@enum@}
\newcommand{\enumeratext}[1]{%
\setcounter{saveenumerate}{\value{enum\romannumeral\the\@enumdepth}}
\end{enumerate}
#1
\def\@none{none}
\ifx\@last@enumerate@arg\@none%
\edef\temp{\noexpand\begin{enumerate}}%
\else
\edef\temp{\noexpand\begin{enumerate}[\@last@enumerate@arg]}%
\fi
\temp%
\setcounter{enum\romannumeral\the\@enumdepth}{\value{saveenumerate}}%
}
\makeatother

\begin{document}
A list:
\begin{enumerate}[a)]
\item number 1
\item things note useful,
\item hello mom, I am famous;
\enumeratext{Some intertext}
\item not really, so sad.

\end{enumerate}

A list:
\begin{enumerate}
\item number 1
\item things note useful,
\item hello mom, I am famous;
\enumeratext{Some intertext}
\item not really, so sad.

\end{enumerate}


\end{document}

@DavidCarlisle: this may be bad, but is certainly not as bad as BREXIT.