Brackets (and how to use them) - Emphasis

Brackets (and how to use them) Brackets (and how to use them) So, those emoticon smiles: what else can they be used for? Round brackets Imagine the contents of round brackets (or parentheses) as an aside that might be said behind your hand (an actor on a stage might anyway). These punctuation marks come in handy to: include optional information You dont have much time left to finish your Christmas shopping (only six shopping days!). introduce an abbreviation or explain a term At this time of year, many people suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD); although equally problematic during December is pogonophobia (a fear of beards). cross-refer If youre wondering where to put punctuation around brackets, youll soon find out (see below). To learn more about pogonophobia, see The Big Book of Phobias (p92). add authorial commentary (if appropriate to the context) The effects of SAD can be quite debilitating (believe me). cover several possible eventualities The Christmas e-bulletin should be well-received by its already tipsy reader(s). Square brackets But parentheses are not to be confused with square brackets. These can be used to: add an editors note or direction Emphasis staff will be required to wear Santa hats to work throughout December [Catie to purchase these]. clarify meaning in a quote without changing any of the original words She said, If you make me wear that thing [the Santa hat] to work, Im quitting. In these cases, you can just replace the word(s) being clarified eg I said: if you make me put on [the Santa hat], Im quitting. Humbug! Punctuating brackets It can be confusing working out where to put the punctuation around brackets (but were here to help): The first rule is quite straightforward. (If you are writing a full sentence inside them, the full stop or alternative should be inside the brackets.) But the full stop will be on the outside if the brackets contain only part of the full sentence (as these do). Put a comma outside the brackets (as demonstrated here), when those brackets appear at the end of a clause within the sentence. If the bracketed aside needs a question mark or exclamation mark, youll still need to add a full stop on the outside to complete the sentence (like this!).