Parentheses [ ( ) ]

1. Use parentheses to enclose material that serves as an explanation, supplement, or example.

He ran 1500 meters (a little less than a mile).

2. Use parentheses to enclose figures and letters in the text of a piece of writing to indicate order of enumeration.

The subjects for this course are (1) English, (2) shorthand, (3) bookkeeping, (4) typewriting.

3. Use parentheses to enclose cross-references.

The amount of this yearly increase is astonishing (see Appendix A).

"Unexceptionable" is not to be confused with "unexceptional" (consult the dictionary).

4. Use parentheses in formal business writing to confirm a sum previously given in words.

I enclose my check for five hundred dollars ($500.00) to cover payment in full.

5. The conventions governing the use of parentheses with other marks of punctuation are as follows:

a. When a complete sentence within parentheses stands alone (that is, not as part of another sentence), the terminal

punctuation is enclosed within parentheses.

He said that knowledge is sometimes useful. (That must be the unexceptionable statement of the century.)

b. When a complete sentence within parentheses is part of another sentence:

• It does not begin with a capital letter unless the first word is a proper noun.

• No period is used within the parentheses.

• If it is a question, a question mark is used within the parentheses.

Later in his analysis he stated that quality control was uneconomical (does he think this true for all lines?) and that its enforcement was ineffective.

c. When a word, phrase, or clause within parentheses is part of a sentence:

• A comma, semicolon, or period is never used after the last word in the parentheses.

• A comma, semicolon, or period is used following the second parenthesis only if the sentence without the parenthetical material requires punctuation at that point.

• A question mark or exclamation mark is used within the parentheses if it applies to the material within the

parentheses.

He considered reporting Jim's threat (could it have been just so much bluster?) but then decided to have a heart-to-heart talk with him first.

6. In a typed manuscript matter in parentheses within a sentence is separated from the words on either side of the parentheses by a single space. A sentence standing by itself within parentheses is separated from the preceding and following sentences by two spaces.

Brackets [ ]

1. Use brackets to enclose matter which you insert in the text of a quoted passage to explain, comment, or correct. "He was born in 1805 [actually in 1802] in ... ."

According to Time magazine, "It [Rabbit, Run} was a flawlessly turned portrait of a social cripple who understood somehow that, running, he was more alive than he would be standing still."

2. Use brackets to enclose the Latin word sic, meaning "thus," when you insert it into a quotation following a mistake in fact, spelling, grammar, etc. to indicate to the reader that you are quoting verbatim from your source and that the mistake was in your source and was not yours.

"Andrew Johnson never attended school and was scarcely able to read when he met Eliza McCardle, whom he married on May 5, 1927 [sic]."

3. In a typed manuscript insert brackets in ink if your typewriter lacks these characters.