Punctuation Department · Today with The Mayor

Parentheses & Brackets

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Parentheses & Brackets

Tap an officer to meet them, then work through each one.

Set off an aside with parentheses

In formal writing, parentheses are used sparingly; in casual writing, more freely. A complete sentence that stands on its own inside parentheses keeps its end mark inside the closing parenthesis; a complete sentence tucked inside another sentence drops the capital and the end mark, and a fragment keeps the surrounding sentence's end mark outside. Marks can nest when needed.

In a sentence

The museum (it opened in 1920) closes on Mondays.

Now you try

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

Clarify inside a quotation with brackets

Use [sic] inside a quotation to show an error belongs to the original speaker, and use brackets to adjust a quoted word so it fits the new sentence. Brackets can nest inside parentheses when needed.

In a sentence

The review said, “Its [sic] a great film.”

She wrote that the plan was “[a]mbitious but sound.”

Now you try

The brackets hold words YOU add inside someone's quote. Like: She said, "He [my brother] left."

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 bridge (built in 1930) still stands.

He wrote, “We [the crew] were ready.”

Now you try

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