The use of parenthesis is often confused with the use of commas, or a single comma, dashes, and more, the list can go on. Therefore, you need to learn how to use it properly and distinguish one form of punctuation from others. Parenthesis is commonly mistaken for brackets, but the uses of parenthesis are slightly different and people who want to sound professional should definitely understand how to use parenthesis.
Uses of Parentheses
Explanation
Example
Examples, Directions, Clarifications
Parentheses are used to include extra information, provide clarification, or offer examples. The sentence should make sense even if the parenthetical information is removed.
Look for the red building with a fence (you can’t miss it).
In-Text Citations
In academic writing, parentheses enclose citations to credit authors for their ideas, preventing plagiarism. These citations are often formatted according to styles like APA or MLA.
The study found significant results (Smith, 2016).
Translations, Pronunciations, or Equivalents
Parentheses can provide a translation of foreign words, clarify pronunciation, or offer equivalent terms. This helps readers understand unfamiliar or technical language.
The term laissez-faire (let do) describes a hands-off economic policy.
Abbreviations
When introducing an abbreviation for the first time, parentheses enclose the shortened form. Afterward, the abbreviation can be used independently.
The United Nations (UN) focuses on global peacekeeping.
Sports Scores or Clarifications
Used to spell out numbers or provide clarification in sports scores or similar contexts. This avoids confusion or ensures accuracy.
Liverpool 3 (three) – 1 Arsenal.
Opinions or Observations
Parentheses sometimes contain personal opinions or commentary from the writer, often seen in informal writing or journalism.
The movie was surprisingly good (though the ending could have been better).
This is one of the very basic forms of grammar like understanding the difference between adjective and adverb or other basic knowledge. As you might already know, the use of parentheses allows the writer to provide new information to a sentence, it can clarify an idea or explain it further.
However, the information inside the parentheses should not alter the meaning or sense of a sentence. The best way to verify if you placed correctly the parentheses is by removing the information in between and reading the sentence again. If once you re-read it, the sentence still makes sense, then you will know that you were using them correctly.
A simple guide to parentheses and the uses for them.
The parentheses are there to add information, but this information should never be crucial. The phrase should be able to stand and make complete sense without the words in the parentheses.
The parenthesis is a stylistic device that comes from the Greek word that means “alongside” or “to place”. Saying that parenthesis is a "stylistic device" means that it's a way to make your writing look sophisticated and stylish.
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The start of parenthesis
Historians claim Erasmus was the first person to use parentheses and supposedly called them lunulae because they looked like moons.
Writers can give the parentheses many uses, but its more popular purpose is to provide extra information that allows the reader to construct the idea better in their minds. If you need personalized guidance to improve punctuation and style, consider contacting an english tutor.
Nonetheless, you should know that the overuse of parenthesis is dangerous. If an essay or a paragraph has too many parentheses it can interrupt the flow of the writing. Your text can end up looking ambiguous and poorly structured.
If you put an original quotation in between sentences, you have to cite the source at the end of the quote any time, either in a quiz or an essay. Photo by J. Kelly Brito
Different Uses of Parenthesis
There can be a lot of different ways you can use parenthesis in a text. Some of them don't come up too frequently in day-to-day writing, but here we will tell you about the four most relevant and common ones. Parenthesis can be really simple once we break it down.
Examples, Directions, Explanations, or Clarifications
Whenever you want to mark an example or provide directions, explanations, or clarifications to the reader, you add it using parentheses. This means that you have some extra information you would like to introduce that isn't vital enough to be part of the paragraph but important enough to be added with parentheses.
If you are closing an argument, it's better not to include any new information and at the end of the sentence opt for a period instead of an exclamation point. Photo by Aaron Burden
Let's say somebody has made a point in their sentence but they feel like they need to clarify or give some extra context to. An example is below of this type of use of parenthesis, which is added into the sentence as a sort of afterthought, but gives important context. In directions, this can be purely functional and just provides people with info they might need, or that could help.
Example: Look for the blue house with the 4x4 outside (it might not be there if Tony has gone out).
This is just one example, there are a lot of other potential uses as people can use parenthesis for pretty much anything that adds more context or information to the sentences. People who are learning English grammar should remember that this is the most common use of parenthesis.
Remember, the key to knowing whether something goes in parenthesis or not is by removing it from the sentence. If removing the parenthetical remark didn't alter the sense of the sentences, then the information can be inside parentheses.
In-text Citations
If you're in high school, it's practically impossible for you to not have used in-text citations after a quotation. Whenever you paraphrase or quote other authors or sources, you need to enclose in parentheses the information of the author. This way you credit the idea in the sentence to the owner and you're free of facing potential problems with plagiarism.
Example: ... as evidenced from a recent study in Harvard (Smith, 2016).
In the example, you can verify how the parentheses are used to provide information about the author and the year the study was held. If you use either APA or MLA in your school, don't worry, in-text citations are pretty much the same for both. Students in the Boston area can also find support from an english tutor.
Translations, Pronunciations, or Equivalents
You can also enclose in parentheses a translation, pronunciation, or an equivalent to the word it preceded.
Example: In the economic system laissez-faire (let do) the individual is the basic unit in society...
As you can see, the word laissez-faire is in French and the translation is enclosed in the parentheses. This is just to help people to understand what it means, perhaps if they have not come across the term before.
Abbreviations
Finally, you can also use parentheses is only used to introduce an abbreviation in your text. For instance, if you're talking about the United Nations, you will first put the whole name and add, in parenthesis, the abbreviation (UN). In the rest of the text, you can use the abbreviation without the parentheses.
If you'd like to answer the question about the types of punctuation that serve to explain or include new information, the answer is dashes, commas (or comma), and more. Photo by Wes Hicks
These aren't the only uses of parenthesis and there are quite a few other ways that this grammar tool can crop up in written text. It can be an efficient way to differentiate certain forms of information.
In soccer scores, or other sports scores, we might see numbers added to clarify things, or the reverse of this (a number spelled out to make it clear).
Example: Chelsea 7 (Seven) - 0 Ipswich
This could be used because 7-0 is an unusual score, and also because some people may confuse the 7 with a 1. This is why we spell it out for the avoidance of any doubts.
The context of the history of parenthesis can help people to understand its use.
Some people may also use this to give their opinion. We see this within books and journalistic writing a lot more than other scenarios, where somebody may add a personal observation in parenthesis.
The Difference Between Parenthesis and Brackets
Students sometimes get confused about the differences between parenthesis and brackets. You'll find out that they are easy to spot and once you know the rule, you will never mistake them again.
The first thing you should note is that one is round ( ) and the other one has a square shape [ ]. The golden rule for brackets in a list of things that differentiates them from the parentheses is that they are far less common than the latter and they usually mark an interruption.
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Parenthesis or Brackets?
Generally speaking brackets are used to add comments to quoted material and parentheses are used to add extra information or context. Keep this in mind when using grammar tools.
Brackets, like quotation marks, are used exclusively within a quote or quoted material. If you see brackets it usually means that the information within has been added by someone else. They are used to explain or comment on the quotation. Different symbols can make things confusing, and understanding brackets rather than parentheses is similar to the difference between a hyphen and a dash.
We can boil it down to a really simple rule: If you want to explain something further or provide some context within a quote you use brackets; for everything else, you can use parentheses.
Note that the original form of parentheses is round and brackets are square, and both are complete if used at the beginning and end of a phrase. Photo by Scott Graham
Learn More About Grammar with Superprof
Note that there are many ways to apply a parenthetical remark in your sentences, and there are also many ways to replace them; for instance, you can use commas, dashes, or brackets. People often struggle with elements of grammar such as the proper use of they're, there, and their or the time to use certain punctuation marks, but Superprof tutors are here to help.
You may now be ready to use parenthesis perfectly, but if you do need some extra help, our tutors are always willing to give you a helping hand and help to talk you through some of the basic grammar rules and information. english tutor near me.
Ready to get to grips with grammar? Reach out to a Superprof tutors today.
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Maria Rodriguez
Online contact creator for Superprof. I am passionate about coffee, blogging, and exchanging ideas through online mediums.
✍🏻 What is the difference between brackets and parenthesis?
Generally speaking, brackets are used to add comments to quoted material but parentheses are used to add extra information or context to a sentence.
7️⃣ Do I need to put a number in parenthesis after writing the word?
If you write a number out, like seven, you do not need to put (7) after it. This occasionally happens in some scenarios like sports scores where it may help to avoid confusion.
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