How To Use Parentheses And Square Brackets
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How To Use Parentheses And Square Brackets
Here is a detailed guide on how to appropriately use parentheses and square brackets. Improve your punctuation inventory with VideoJug's helpful guide.
Step 1: Bracketing parentheses
Parentheses are the posh name for what most of us call brackets – they're also known as round brackets. Parentheses can be used in the same way as a pair of dashes or a bracketing comma: They indicate a strong interruption in the flow of the sentence. The words within parentheses should represent an aside from the writer to the reader:
Although Barcelona is one of the most sociable places on earth (especially if you enjoy sitting in cafes) you will rue the day you forgot your manners there.
You will notice that everything inside the brackets could be removed and the remaining sentence still makes sense:
Although Barcelona is one of the most sociable places on earth you will rue the day you forgot your manners there.
Step 2: Extra information
You can include extra information in brackets:
The rock star Kurt Cobain (1967 – 1994) was a major influence on a whole generation of musicians.
Step 3: Options
Sometimes, particularly in forms or official documents, it may be necessary to use parentheses to illustrate options:
Your teacher(s) may not always know the name(s) of your sibling(s).
Step 4: Listing
If you are writing a list and you want to use either numbers or letters to mark each separate point, they should appear in parentheses:
To get into the club you should make sure you are
(a) not wearing trainers
(b) not visibly drunk, and
(c) on the guest list.
Step 5: Square brackets in quotes
You should only ever use square brackets to clarify a point, or insert additional information into a direct quote:
“These two nations [Russia and America] seem to sway the destinies of half the globe.”
The original quote did not make it obvious which two nations are referred to, but the addition of the square brackets is a good way of making that clear.
You can also use square brackets to add words to a quote, or to replace words without changing the original meaning of the sentence:
“I'm sure it [was] always like that.”
Step 6: Full stops and brackets
Always remember that a full stop always falls outside the brackets at the end of the sentence.
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04:34
Use Quotation Marks
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02:50
Use The Slash Punctuation Mark
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03:31
Use Hyphens And Dashes
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04:28
Use An Apostrophe
Tips & Comments
awesome thanks for posting this!
S H I T TY
y r u arguing over a s**tty video over the internet go get laid & a life
Surely it would be more helpful when leaving comments to make it clear which country you are from...? What is acceptable in American English (starting a sentence with parenthesis for example) is not always acceptable in British English. It could save a whole heap of arguments, although I guess that would spoil some of the fun. ;) The whole point of an 'aside' in writing is to make a comment on, or provide further (perhaps loosely related) information, on what you have written in the current sentence. My understanding of British English is that a written sentence (unless a direct quote making use of quotation marks), should never begin with punctuation and that it should always end in a full stop (or period if you're American, although where I'm from that's a whole different thing...). Then again, I'm currently coping with the novelty of Australian English, and what is acceptable here is a whole different ball game!
It is both illogical and wrong to state that the full stop always falls after the bracket. If the sentence falls wholly within the bracket then its full stop also falls within the bracket. Greg
What's wrong with people??? Starting a sentence with a parenthesis is just plain wrong. WRONG WRONG WRONG!!! If you opt to do this, then you are totally clueless as to the appropriate structure you should be using. If, for some absurd reason, you choose to start a sentence with a parenthesis, then definitely do NOT take the advice Anonymous has given below – you should never have a full stop immediately before the closing parenthesis. The American convention for doing this is not only wrong, but the logic for doing so is blatantly ridiculous and without merit.
I want to put multiple sentences (as an explanation of a previous paragraph) in square brackets - can I do this?
Thanks for having a video made on this subject. It's gets boring reading and reading endless words.
Americans beware of the last statement. It is untrue according to most U.S. style guides. If a sentence begins in parentheses, then the full stop falls WITHIN the parentheses. Only if the parentheses start within the sentence does the full stop fall outside the parentheses.
Great.