Brackets and Parentheses

The difference between a 'bracket' and a 'parentheses' can be a bit confusing.

Generally, parentheses refers to round brackets () and brackets to square brackets []. However, we are more and more used to hearing these refered to simply as 'round brackets' or 'square brackets'.

Usually we use square brackets - [ ] - for special purposes such as in technical manuals. Round brackets - ( ) -, or 'parentheses' are used in a similar way to commas when we want to add further explanation, an afterthought, or comment that is to do with our main line of thought but distinct from it.

Many grammarians feel that the parentheses can, in fact, be replaced by commas in nearly all cases.

For example:

• further explanation - The government's education report (April 2005) shows that the level of literacy is rising in nearly all areas.
• comment - I visited Kathmandu (which was full of tourists) on my way to the Himalayas for a trekking expedition.
• afterthought - You can eat almost anything while travelling in Asia if you are careful to observe simple rules (avoiding unboiled or unbottled water is one of the main rules to be aware of.)

Hyphens and Dashes

A hyphen joins two or more words together (e.g. x-ray, door-to-door) while a dash separates words into parenthetical statements (e.g. She was trapped - no escape was possible.

Hyphens:

Generally, hyphens are used to avoid confusion or ambiguity but today most words that have been hyphenated quite quickly drop the hyphen and become a single word (e.g. e-mail andemail, now-a-days and nowadays). In many cases though a hyphen does make the sense clear:

• I am thinking of re-covering my sofa (to put a new cover on it)
• I would like to recover my sofa. (perhaps from someone who has borrowed it as this means 'to get it back')

Hyphens and numbers

1. Use a hyphen with compound numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine.

• fifty-one
• eighty-nine
• thirty-two
• sixty-five
• eighty-one

2. In written fractions place a hyphen between the numerator and denominator.

• two-fifths
• one-third
• three-tenth
• nine-hundredth

[Exception] if there is already a hyphen in either the numerator or the denominator, you omit the hyphen between the numerator and denominator.

• sixty-nine eighty-ninths (not 'sixty-nine-eighty-ninths')
• twenty-two thirty-thirds

3. Use a hyphen when the number forms part of an adjectival compund:

• France has a 35-hour working week.
• He won the 100-metre sprint.
• Charles Dickens was a great nineteenth-century novelist.

Usage

Consult your dictionary if you are not sure but remember that current usage may be more up-to-date (not uptodate... yet!) than your dictionary. There are some cases where hyphens preserve written clarity such as where there are letter collisions (co-operate, bell-like) or where a prefix is added (anti-nuclear, post-colonial), or in family relations (great-grandmother, son-in-law.)

Dashes:

Dashes can be used to add parenthetical statements in much the same way as you would use brackets. In formal writing you should use the bracket rather than the dash as a dash is considered less formal in most cases. However, they should not be overused nor used to replace commas although they can be used to create emphasis in a sentence.

Examples

• You may think she is a liar - she isn't.

 The Colon

The colon expands on the sentence that precedes it.

• There are many reasons for poor written communication: lack of planning, poor grammar, misuse of punctuation marks and insufficient vocabulary.
• He collected a strange assortment of items: bird's eggs, stamps, bottle tops, string and buttons.
• Peter had an eclectic taste in music: latin, jazz, country and western, pop, blues and classical.

The Semi Colon

The Semicolon

The semicolon is somewhere between a weak full stop and a strong comma and used to join phrases and sentences without having to use a conjunction (and, but etc.) where the phrases or sentences are thematically linked but independent.

Look at this example.

• Many great leaders; Churchill, leader of Britain during the Second World War; Alexander, the great Roman Emperor and general; and Napolean, the brilliant French general, had great strengths of character which were useful when their countries were at war but also great weaknesses which did not serve them so well in times of peace.

Notice how the semicolon works with the comma to enclose the connected phrases while the whole forms one logical sentence.

Punctuating speech with quotation marks

Usage

Although you will still see the double quotation marks used to quote direct speech it is more and more common to punctuate speech and direct quotations with single quotation marks with the double quotation marks reserved for quoting 'speech within speech'.

Examples

• 'I haven't spoken to Peter for months,' Dianne said.'The last time I spoke to him he said, "I'm going to Bahrain and won't be back for about three years", I've heard nothing since then'.

Notice that the comma is placed within the quotation marks and that double quotation marks are only used when the quoted speaker is quoting someone else directly.

Other uses of the quotation mark

You will also have seen the single quotation marks used to mark out idiomatic expressions such as -

• I've always thought that he was very annoying, a bit of a 'pain in the neck.'

They are also used outside of speech when quoting the title of a journal article:

• 'The Migration Flight of the Lesser Tweazle', by Jeremey Adams, in The Bird Spotter Magazine, July 2009.

(Note that there are a number of ways of organising such things as bibliographies which set out standard formats. Most organisations and academic institutions will prefer one of these or have their own format published in a 'style guide'.)