Punctuation Department · Today with The Mayor

Parentheses & Brackets

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Parentheses & Brackets

Meet your officer, then work through each job.

Set off an aside with parentheses

Parentheses set off a nonrestrictive or parenthetical element: a word group you could lift out without breaking the sentence. A pair of commas or a pair of dashes can set off the same element (the three-tool choice); parentheses are the quietest. Square brackets, the editorial cousin, work inside quotations and do a different job.

In a sentence

My uncle (a retired pilot) flies often.

She won first place (which surprised everyone).

Now you try

The part inside should lift right out. Like: My dog (a husky) loves snow.

Whose words is it?

Parentheses enclose a nonrestrictive element the writer adds in their own sentence; square brackets enclose an editorial insertion inside a direct quotation. Both come in pairs and both set a part aside; the difference is whose words they sit in.

In a sentence

The trail (steep but short) ends at the lake.

Now you try

Parentheses hold your own aside; brackets hold a note inside someone else's quote.