Parentheses
Parentheses are punctuation marks (either commas,
dashes or brackets) used in pairs to offset additional information in a
sentence. The additional information is called a
parenthesis.
Examples (parenthesis shown in bold):
 Mrs Allan, 64
at the time, rang the police immediately.
  
commas
used as parentheses
Due to
pub quizzes, Buzz Aldrin - the second man on the Moon - is now
as famous as Neil Armstrong. (dashes
used as parentheses)
Mrs
O'Grady's other macaw (called "Billy Two") rides a
motorised skateboard. (brackets used as
parentheses)
Interactive example:
| Ollie,
our postman's dog,
follows him around and attacks the public. [show
the parentheses] |
See also:
Glossary of grammatical terms
|
