How to Use Parentheses | Grammar Lessons

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Parentheses work like an aside in a sentence or, as I like to think of it, a whisper. When you read a sentence and you come across a parentheses you feel like the author is almost whispering in your ear and saying, 'Here's a little bit of extra information.'  It's not vital that you know it but it's interesting. You can punctuate parentheses two different ways. You can tuck then inside of a sentence if it's a partial thought, or you can make a parentheses it's own complete sentence, if it's a complete thought. I'll show you how to do it.

So in this sentence I might say to my mom, over the holidays, 'I bought a gift for you (and two for me). In this case 'and two for me' is part of the sentence and so I tuck it in. I say,'  I bought a gift for you (and two for me). Whenever you're tucking the parenthesis inside of a sentence you want to put the end punctuation outside of the parentheses. Now what if I want to use the parentheses in a complete sentence, for it's own sentence, as standalone sentence if you will. Well, it would look like this. 'I bought a purse for you. And I might say, in  parentheses, (I bought two dresses for myself.) So in this case note that we open the parentheses, we capitalize the first word, and we tuck the end punctuation inside of the parenthesis before we close it. I hope this gives you some ideas about how to use the parentheses.

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[ekong]

This is so helpful. I've always had some confusion on when to tuck the punctuation mark inside the parenthesis. I usually just work on instinct, or if the sentence looks "good" when trying to figure out if I placed the punctuation mark correctly, or not. Thank you.

[HonestFinance]

Trying to write my YouTube videos title correctly. Thank you :) short and sweet

[michealthompson]

thanks for the video! can you make a video on how to use brackets and full stops now?

[mylesbrown]

I got quite stuck on parentheses and now I know how to use them thanks to this vid! :D

[alexadelacruz]

I swear to god, whenever I read a sentence with parentheses I always think of Homer Simpson whispering and it’s been going on for years help.

[amtulmusawar]

Thank you so much, it would be really helping me in my assessment of english 😊

[PatrickTeachestheWorld]

Thanks a lot! I think I might over-use parentheses a bit. Are there any rules on how often they should be used?

[ranaatif]

Very informative videos, way of presentation is great

[jesseribbey]

My question was more along the lines of when typing like this using parenthesis and the correct spacing. Like is is it supposed to be like this...I bought you a gift (and 2 for me) today at the store. Or....I bought you a gift( and 2 for me) today at the store. Or....I bought you a gift(and 2 for me) today at the store. Or any of the other possible spacing variations. Whats correct? Someone please help. I know this is 10yrs old but maybe ill get lucky and someone will see it.

[dexta]

My brother (lives in °°°°°°°°°°° town) works at §§§§§§§ restaurant.

[HR-ybij]

Why wouldnt you just create another sentence in the second example? What's the purpose of using the parentheses in the second one ?

[urukapileo]

Wait so for example i was to use it like this a divisor is a number (being divided ).

[chickenwu]

Anyone watched this video because your teacher told you to during quarantine?

[sirajfulat]

you canuse them in the midle of a sentence too

[tenacioussoul]

How come you dont use quotations if its still something you said?

[destinymoons]

My child learnt how to use parentheses snd shes only 10

[vinmandalore]

How come you get two dresses and she gets a purse? Jk haha

[cjblinncjblinn]

Think you for help student for packets english I am very happy think you my student is so happy because on english Wirth for you YouTube lesson for you packets think you

[inner]

shiyt man, i look at her i think of one thing, how am i going to use parentheses correctly?