{"id":10265,"date":"2015-08-31T14:52:38","date_gmt":"2015-08-31T21:52:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev-crowdcontent.com\/?p=10265"},"modified":"2021-04-28T08:47:07","modified_gmt":"2021-04-28T15:47:07","slug":"parentheses-and-brackets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crowdcontent.com\/resources\/writer\/university\/punctuation\/parentheses-and-brackets\/","title":{"rendered":"Parentheses and Brackets"},"content":{"rendered":"

Parentheses and Brackets<\/h2>\n

Parentheses provide non-essential information in unquoted text. Brackets provide additional information in quoted text.<\/span><\/p>\n

Parentheses<\/h3>\n

As with <\/span>commas<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>dashes<\/span><\/a>, you can use parentheses to insert some non-essential text into your writing. If the parentheses occur within a sentence, place the final period or comma outside the parentheses and don\u2019t capitalize the first word in parentheses:<\/span><\/p>\n

I encourage you to watch the show (<\/span>t<\/b>he cast may be amateur, but they are talented)<\/span>.<\/b><\/p>\n

The stage director approved of my performance (<\/span>e<\/b>ven though I thought it was awful)<\/span>,<\/b> but suggested a different costume.<\/span><\/p>\n

If the parentheses occur within a sentence, place exclamation and question marks inside them, but don\u2019t capitalize the first word in parentheses:<\/span><\/p>\n

I saw Olivia (<\/span>i<\/b>s she your cousin<\/span>?<\/b>) at the ice rink today<\/span><\/p>\n

My brother is the head chef at a restaurant that serves nothing but artichokes (<\/span>y<\/b>uck<\/span>!<\/b>).<\/span><\/p>\n

When a whole sentence is in parentheses, place all punctuation inside the parentheses and capitalize the first letter:<\/span><\/p>\n

I applied for a job with Google, but I\u2019m almost certain I\u2019ll be rejected. (Although my aunt\u2019s friend\u2019s cousin works there, so maybe that connection will help.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Your sentence needs to make grammatical sense without the parenthetical part.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wrong:<\/span><\/strong> Charles (and his dog) <\/span>are<\/span> cooking dinner.<\/span><\/p>\n

Right:<\/span><\/strong> Charles (and his dog) <\/span>is<\/span> cooking dinner.<\/span><\/p>\n

Brackets<\/h3>\n

Use brackets to insert your own writing into a quotes. They use the same rules of punctuation as parentheses:<\/span><\/p>\n

Then she said, \u201cI think we should invite her [Lucille]<\/span>,<\/b> too\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like deja-vu all over again [what<\/span>?<\/b>]<\/span>.<\/b>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

If you spot a mistake in the text that you\u2019re quoting, italicize the word <\/span>sic <\/span><\/i>and put it in brackets after the mistake:<\/span><\/p>\n

In her essay on Hamlet, May wrote, \u201c\u2018To bee [<\/span>sic<\/span><\/i>], or not to be, that is the question.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

If you change part of a quote, place the change in brackets.<\/span><\/p>\n

Original:<\/strong> \u201cI say to you today, my friends, though, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Changed:<\/strong> \u201cI say to you today, my friends, […] I still have a dream.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Original:<\/strong> \u201c<\/span>But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Changed:<\/strong> \u201c[W]e cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Learn More:<\/span><\/p>\n