36b Parentheses

Use parentheses to enclose supplemental material, minor digressions, and afterthoughts.

Nurses record patients’ vital signs (temperature, pulse, and blood pressure) several times a day.

Use parentheses to enclose letters or numbers labeling items in a series.

Regulations stipulated that only the following equipment could be used on the survival mission: (1) a knife, (2) thirty feet of parachute line, (3) a book of matches, (4) two ponchos, (5) an E tool, and (6) a signal flare.

Do not overuse parentheses.

The example reads, Researchers have said that (insert) from (end inserts) seventeen million (strikethrough) open parenthesis estimates run as high as (end strikethrough) (insert) to (end inserts) twenty-three million (strikethrough) close parenthesis (end strikethrough) Americans have diabetes.