How to Use Parentheses (Lesson, Examples & Worksheet)

Though the information they keep may not always be critical—make no mistake—parentheses are one of the most highly utilized and beneficial marks of punctuation you could know!

How to use parentheses in writing

Parentheses always come in pairs, and look like 2 half circles ( ... ). We use them to add extra information without breaking the main sentence or creating a new one. The enclosed text can be anything from a brief word to several full sentences.

The word parenthesis, which is singular, has Greek roots. In its original translation, its meaning is similar to "injection" or "insertion". The word itself is a compound of para ("beside"), en ("in"), and tithenai ("to put" or "to place").

As it follows, the information within the parentheses must be nonessential to the sentence's meaning or intelligibility.

Punctuation with parentheses

The question of how to punctuate parentheses has been a topic of contention amongst grammarians for decades. The standard form is to keep punctuation with the sentences or fragments it punctuates in a sentence (or sentences).

In other words, punctuation stays within the parentheses when they are used to enclose complete, standalone sentences.

Add the sage last to preserve the flavour. (Fresh sage is best but dried will do fine.)

I arrived at work at 9.30am. (That's earlier than usual.)

Often, brackets appear in the middle of a sentence to include nonessential or 'parenthetical' information. When parentheses appear in the middle or end of a sentence, punctuate after the closing parenthesis.

The chart for this data (number of women in the workplace), is incorrect and the argument should be revised.

Medicare (Australia’s universal health insurance scheme) guarantees all Australians access to a wide range of health and hospital services.

Worksheet: Punctuation-parentheses

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