Chapter 9
Parentheses and Brackets
Not many writers would agree with D.H. Lawrence, the English novelist, who believed that parentheses were “by far the most important parts of a non-business letter.” Parentheses is an American term; the British refer to these marks as rounded brackets or, more simply, brackets. The terms refer to both the curved symbols and the material inside. Parentheses interrupt the flow of meaning, but they are quite helpful to the writer, so long as they are used with care. Too many parentheses confuse the reader and indicate that the writing lacks a logical structure. Parentheses also enclose citations in academic papers and appear in bibliographic entries.
What Americans call brackets, which resemble flattened-out parentheses, are called squared brackets in Britain. Brackets have important but limited usage. Material inserted into a quotation is enclosed in brackets to differentiate it from the words of the original source. Brackets also appear in bibliographies.
Parentheses inject something extra into a sentence: additional information, a remark on the content of the sentence, a cross reference, or a source citation. Parentheses may also enclose several sentences or paragraphs, signaling a digression from the main topic. They may also enclose numbers when a list appears in a sentence.
Note: The word parentheses is plural. The singular, parenthesis, is less frequently used these days. Both words are more or less interchangeable. The adjective form is parenthetical.
To Insert Additional Information
In a general sentence, parentheses are an efficient way to insert specifics, as in these examples:
The theme we’ve chosen for the banquet (Springtime in Paris) is sure to be a success.
The Ticket Committee (Eleanor Slovik, chair) has already sent out a mass mailing.
We expect increased sales because of the new three-tiered pricing structure ($45, $55, $70).
Inge is on a visit to Spain (did you know that she’s visiting Madrid?) but is expected back next week.
Has anyone seen Meg (she said she’d attend) or Janet?
No one is happy with today’s weather forecast (they said it would be cloudy with a chance of showers!), but we’re going ahead anyway.
Notice that the material inside the parentheses varies in completeness and in grammatical structure. In the first three examples above, the parenthetical information is just a few words or numbers, not a complete thought. In the last three examples above, the parentheses contain full sentences—a question, a statement, and an exclamation.
Note: Parenthetical material tucked inside another sentence does not begin with a capital letter unless one is needed for a proper noun or the pronoun I. The logic underlying this practice is that there is only one sentence, which the parenthesis is part of.
Parentheses are optional in that they may be replaced in specific situations by other punctuation marks, the dash and the comma.
If the additional information is not a complete sentence, commas or dashes may set it off from the rest of the sentence:
The theme we’ve chosen for the banquet, Springtime in Paris, is sure to be a success.
The Ticket Committee—Eleanor Slovik, chair—has already sent out a mass mailing.
We expect increased sales because of the new three-tiered pricing structure—$45, $55, $70.
Too Many Commas May Confuse the Reader
Commas are not a good substitute for parentheses if the information to be set off itself contains a comma.
Wrong: The colors we’ve chosen to highlight for the for the fall fashion show, green, yellow, and blue, must be worn by at least 50% of the models.
Why it is wrong: The information about the colors is set off by commas, but those commas blend it with the commas between the colors.
Right: The colors we’ve chosen to highlight for the for the fall fashion show (green, yellow, and blue) must be worn by at least 50% of the models.
Note: Dashes may also set off inserted material containing commas, as in this sentence:
The colors we’ve chosen to highlight for the for the fall fashion show—green, yellow, and blue—must be worn by at least 50% of the models.
If the additional information is a complete sentence, a dash (but not commas) may substitute for the parentheses:
Inge is on a visit to Spain—did you know that she’s visiting Madrid?—but is expected back next week.
Has anyone seen Meg—she said she’d attend—or Janet?
No one is happy with today’s weather forecast—they said it would be cloudy with a chance of showers!—but we’re going ahead anyway.
Note that the material set off by dashes does not begin with a capital letter, even if the material could itself form a complete sentence. The obvious exception to this rule is parenthetical material beginning with a proper noun or the pronoun I.
What Does Not Belong in Parentheses
The only thing that may not be inserted in parentheses is a totally unrelated idea.
Wrong: The public relations staff is going out for lunch today (tonight’s film begins at eight) and will not answer requests for information after 11:30 a.m.
Why it is wrong: The parenthetical information—tonight’s film begins at eight—bears no clear relationship to the rest of the sentence. The reader is left confused. Why is the writer telling me about a movie?
Right: The public relations staff is going out for lunch today and will not answer requests for information after 11:30 a.m. They would like everyone to know that the film that was recently shot on company grounds will air at 8 p.m. tonight.
Why this version is better: Now the relationship between the film and the lunch is made clear.
To Add Remarks or Comments to the Sentence
Parentheses, especially in humorous or informal writing, give the author a space in which to comment ironically or seriously on the ideas expressed in the rest of the sentence. Some examples:
Louise and Barry (we all know how efficient they are!) lost the keys to the closet containing the paper supplies.
When summer begins (and I certainly look forward to that day), I will put my books away and begin a much-needed rest.
The late Mr. Olson (sincerely missed) will be the subject of a documentary produced by the Alexis Company.
Though I belong to the older generation (pre-dinosaur era), I love teen romance films.
My mother asked if I had time to take out the garbage (and I had better make time, judging by her tone of voice).
As the sentences above show, the words inside the parentheses may be complete thoughts (as in the first sentence) or not. Writers may substitute dashes for parentheses whenever a stronger, more emphatic tone is required. Commas may replace parentheses only when the parenthetical material is not a complete sentence.
To Insert a Cross Reference
Many nonfiction works cross reference information, sending the reader to a different paragraph or section for explanations, illustrations, and the like. The cross references may be placed in parentheses so that they do not distract the reader from the main ideas of the sentence or paragraph they appear in.
Insert tab B into slot A (fig. 12) and staple securely.
Nouns are words that name people, places, things, or ideas. (Chapter 3 contains more information on nouns.)
“Man of Sorrow” is his favorite poem. (For more information on this poem, consult the American Poets Association website.)
Notice that the information in parentheses may be a complete, separate sentence or may be only a brief phrase. If the parentheses enclose a separate sentence, the first word is capitalized. If the parenthesis is tucked into another sentence, the first word is not capitalized unless a capital is needed for a proper noun or for the pronoun I.
To Cite Sources
Citing sources was once solely a matter of footnotes and endnotes. However, modern writers may use parentheses to indicate the author, title, and/or page that a particular idea or quotation was drawn from. Part III of this book explains parenthetical citation in detail. In brief, the text may give the title and/or author of the material. In such cases, the parentheses contain only the page number. If the text does not mention the title or author, the parentheses give enough information to identify the source and page. The bibliography, appended to the end of the piece, provides all the rest of the information on the source.
Notice that the parenthetical citation is part of the sentence but not part of any quotation being cited. The format for science papers or articles is slightly different from that favored by the humanities. Some examples follow.
Humanities Citation
Miller claims that “the inflation rate was a primary factor in the president’s defeat” (99).
Inflation led to the defeat of the president in the general election (Miller 99).
Notice that in the first example the page number alone is sufficient to identify the work cited because the author’s name is in the sentence. In the second example the author’s name does not appear in the text, so it is placed in the parentheses along with the page number. The bibliography (not shown here) gives all the information missing in this sentence, including the title, publisher, date, and so forth.
Science Citation
Because the date of a source is more important in science and social science than it may be in the humanities, the parenthetical citation always includes a date. Some examples:
Miller (1999) identified the bacterium.
The bacterium was identified after an outbreak of disease in Philadelphia (Miller, 1999).
The bacterium “is deadly only to those whose immune systems are compromised” (Miller, 1999, 12).
The parenthetical information in the first sentence above follows the name of the author and includes the date of Miller’s publication. The second sentence identifies the author and date, as Miller’s name does not appear in the text. In the last sentence above, the page number of the quotation is added to the author’s name and date. As with all parenthetical citations, enough information is given so that the reader can turn to the bibliography and find full identification of the source.
To Signal a Digression
Occasionally writers place a paragraph or even a few paragraphs inside parentheses to mark a digression from the main point they are writing about. Needless to say, such a practice is risky because, as a British writer Sir Richard Burton once remarked, too long a parenthesis results in a reader who “forgot the sense that went before.”
If you use parentheses in this way, place the opening mark before the first word of the digression and the closing mark after the last word and the endmark (period, exclamation point, question mark) or quotation mark, if there is one. The punctuation of the material within the parentheses follows all the normal rules. An example follows.
Augustine slipped quietly into the back of the courtroom. How tired Alice looked, he mused. She liked to pretend that the grueling schedule had no effect on her health, but the reality was quite different.
(September in Majorca! What a difference then in Alice’s demeanor. She sparkled on the dance floor, glowed in the little café under the arch, and literally jumped up the few stairs to their room at the inn. “Catch me!” she had cried as she leapt into his arms.)
The judge looked sternly at the jury.
Instead of parentheses, long digressions are often indicated in modern writing with a different font or with italics. These effects are more common in literature than in nonfiction essays or letters. The wise writer should consider long parenthetical interruptions very carefully. Chances are the reader will prefer a straightforward, logical structure. Note this example:
Augustine slipped quietly into the back of the courtroom. How tired Alice looked, he mused. She liked to pretend that the grueling schedule had no effect on her health, but the reality was quite different.
September in Majorca! What a difference then in Alice’s demeanor. She sparkled on the dance floor, glowed in the little café under the arch, and literally jumped up the few stairs to their room at the inn. “Catch me!” she had cried as she leapt into his arms.
The judge looked sternly at the jury.
To Number a List
Parentheses may enclose numbers when a numbered list appears in a sentence, as in this example:
When closing the store, follow these steps: (1) count the cash; on hand; (2) record the sales and returns; (3) straighten stock; and (4) alert security.
Notice that each item in the list above is followed by a semicolon, including the last item before the and. If the list is free-standing, you may omit the parentheses and simply place a period after each number:
When closing the store, follow these steps:
1. Count the cash.
2. Record the sales and returns.
3. Straighten stock.
4. Alert security.
If the numbers in a free-standing list are enclosed in parentheses, do not insert periods after the numbers.
Parentheses and Other Punctuation
Other punctuation marks sometimes appear inside or after parentheses, but not before. Take a look at these sentences and explanations:
Albertina sat down at the piano. (She had been taking lessons, paid for by her father, for years.) We awaited her performance eagerly.
In the first example, an entire sentence has been inserted into the parentheses. Any punctuation the sentence requires—in this example only commas and a period—goes inside the parentheses as well.
Albertina sat down at the piano (she had been taking lessons, paid for by her father, for years) as we awaited her performance eagerly.
Now the parenthetical material is part of a larger sentence. No period appears inside the parentheses because technically the sentence isn’t finished yet. The true end of the sentence occurs after eagerly, and that’s where the endmark appears. Any commas needed in the parenthetical material, such as the ones that enclose paid for by her father, are included.
Albertina sat down at the piano (she never took a lesson in her life!) and began to play.
Albertina sat down at the piano (do you know that she never took a lesson?) and began to play.
In the above examples the exclamation point and the question mark are placed inside the parentheses. These endmarks are allowed inside the sentence because the emotion or tone they indicate is helpful to the reader. Note the absence of a capital letter; the lowercase letter is an indication that the parenthetical material is not a true sentence, but part of another, longer sentence.
When Albertina returned (she had been in France for a week), she gave a concert.
The comma after the parentheses is necessary because of the introductory material preceding the parentheses. Commas may appear after but not before parentheses.
Albertina played a long piece (Etude in B Major).
A period follows the parentheses in the above sentence because the parentheses end the sentence. No period belongs inside the parentheses because the expression inside is not a complete, stand-alone sentence.
Brackets resemble parentheses, but the side of a bracket is straight instead of curved. Brackets appear only rarely and serve primarily to insert material into a quotation or to differentiate material inside parentheses.
To Insert Material into a Quotation
The most important issue in quoting a written or oral source is accuracy. The reader should know which words come from the source, which do not, and whether any words were omitted. Ellipses, or three spaced dots, take care of omissions. Brackets signal insertions. Sometimes the insertion is necessary to clarify the meaning of the quotation. Because writers seldom quote something in its entirety, the reader may be confused about the context of the quotation. A name or place may be referred to only as she or there. The brackets allow the writer to clear up any ambiguity. Take a look at these examples:
“She [Elisabeth] entered counseling in May and was discharged in September,” stated the doctor.
The doctor went on to explain, “After arriving [at the hospital], Elisabeth was interviewed by the intake counselor.”
The standard practice, according to the hospital confidentiality policy, is to “follow federal regulations [the Privacy Act of 1992] in conveying information only with the patient’s consent.”
The bracketed information in the preceding sentences would probably not be necessary if the reader were able to read the doctor’s entire statement or the paragraphs surrounding the last sentence. Since these quotations are excerpted, they lack the context that the brackets provide.
Bracketed information is usually brief. If much more information is needed, the writer should address the issues in the text, not inside the quotation.
To Identify Errors in Quotations
An extremely useful little word is sic, derived from the Latin term for so or thus. If you are quoting a source that contains a misspelled word or another error, the word sic in brackets distances you from the mistake. It indicates that you know what is wrong but cannot change the original quotation:
“Dan peeled a potatoe [sic] for lunch.”
The spelling of potato is a problem in the quotation above, as the writer knows and communicates to the reader with the bracketed sic.
To Alter Legal and Scholarly Quotations
Capitalizing the first word of a quotation, even if the original source is lowercased, is fine for everyday writing. The reverse is also true; you may usually change a capital to a lowercase letter without alerting the reader. The reader assumes that the quotation may be altered in this way without notification and seldom cares about such a trivial issue. However, in scholarly or legal writing, exactness is an important. Placing a capital letter in brackets indicates that the original source has been changed from upper to lower case:
“[S]pecific instructions were never issued.”
The defendant replied that he was “[e]xasperated.”
To Insert Material into a Parentheses
Parentheses separate the material inside from the rest of the sentence or paragraph. If you want to insert material into parentheses, use brackets:
(Additional parts are available [see catalogue] for a small fee.)
As you may imagine, you should try to avoid brackets inside parentheses. The reader is too likely to wonder why you haven’t simply reworded the sentence:
(The catalogue lists additional parts that are available for a small fee.)
Sometimes commas are enough to set off an expression within parentheses. These two sets of sentences convey the same information, but the second sentence of each pair is cleaner:
(Mr. Phelps [Director of Overseas Operations] asks that you call for further information.)
(Mr. Phelps, Director of Overseas Operations, asks that you call for further information.)
(Insert the tabs into the matching slots [see figure B] and staple.)
(Insert the tabs into the matching slots, as shown in figure B, and staple.)