{"id":7951,"date":"2015-04-14T11:17:36","date_gmt":"2015-04-14T09:17:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/?p=7951"},"modified":"2022-11-29T12:08:13","modified_gmt":"2022-11-29T11:08:13","slug":"parentheses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/language-rules\/parentheses\/","title":{"rendered":"Parentheses () | Definition, Punctuation, Rules &#038; Examples"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Parentheses<\/strong> are used to add extra information in a sentence. In academic writing, they are most often used to convey technical information such as equations, to introduce acronyms, and for <a href=index-3328.html>parenthetical citations<\/a>.<!--more--><\/p>\n<h2>Side-by-side parentheses<\/h2>\n<p>Sometimes you might need to use two parenthetical elements together\u2014for example, when a sentence contains both an <a href=index-977.html>acronym<\/a> and a citation. Style guides disagree about whether it\u2019s okay to place two (or more) parenthetical asides side by side.<\/p>\n<p><a href=index-1778.html>APA style<\/a>\u00a0recommends using a single set of parentheses with a <a href=index-1830.html>semicolon<\/a> separating the main elements.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"kb-checklist\">\n<li>The results were sorted by gross domestic product (GDP; Odin, 2018).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=index-1780.html>Chicago<\/a>\u00a0also advises this approach, but allows side-by-side parentheses if their content is entirely unrelated. If you do use two sets of parentheses, put a space between them.<\/p>\n<h2>Nested parentheses<\/h2>\n<p>When you want to enclose a set of parentheses inside another set, most style guides recommend using square brackets for the inner element.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"kb-checklist\">\n<li class=\"error\">Several prestigious organizations (e.g., National Institutes of Health (NIH)) supported the initiative.<\/li>\n<li>Several prestigious organizations (e.g., National Institutes of Health [NIH]) supported the initiative.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In <a href=index091e.html?p=10811\%22>British English<\/a>, parentheses within parentheses are more acceptable. However, it&#8217;s always best to avoid this kind of nesting whenever possible. If you can rephrase the sentence to remove one of the parenthetical elements, this is the best option.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"kb-checklist\">\n<li>Several prestigious organizations, such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), supported the initiative.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>When including a citation within a parenthetical element, <a href=index-1778.html>APA style<\/a> recommends using <a href=indexbc2c.html?p=7926\%22>commas<\/a> instead of parentheses or brackets.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"kb-checklist\">\n<li class=\"error\">This sort of testing is usually unreliable (as Jenner [2012] took pains to show).<\/li>\n<li>This sort of testing is usually unreliable (as Jenner, 2012, took pains to show).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Parentheses are used to add extra information in a sentence. In academic writing, they are most often used to convey technical information such as equations, to introduce acronyms, and for parenthetical citations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":""},"categories":[28634],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<title>Parentheses () | Definition, Punctuation, Rules &amp; Examples<\/title>\n
<!-- Mirrored from www.scribbr.com/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/7951 by HTTrack Website Copier/3.x [XR/YP'2000] -->
<!-- Added by HTTrack --><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" /><!-- /Added by HTTrack -->
<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In academic writing, parentheses are often used to convey technical information, to introduce acronyms, and for in-text citations.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=index-1829.html \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Parentheses () | Definition, Punctuation, Rules &amp; Examples\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Parentheses are used to add extra information in a sentence. In academic writing, they are most often used to convey technical information such as\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/language-rules\/parentheses\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Scribbr\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-04-14T09:17:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-11-29T11:08:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/open-graph-scribbrcom.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"627\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Shane Bryson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Shane Bryson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/language-rules\/parentheses\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/language-rules\/parentheses\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Shane Bryson\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/#\/schema\/person\/19d2701e30b048a54778383566aa93df\"},\"headline\":\"Parentheses () | Definition, Punctuation, Rules &#038; Examples\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-04-14T09:17:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-11-29T11:08:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/language-rules\/parentheses\/\"},\"wordCount\":282,\"commentCount\":2,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Language rules\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/language-rules\/parentheses\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/language-rules\/parentheses\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/language-rules\/parentheses\/\",\"name\":\"Parentheses () | Definition, Punctuation, Rules & Examples\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-04-14T09:17:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-11-29T11:08:13+00:00\",\"description\":\"In academic writing, parentheses are often used to convey technical information, to introduce acronyms, and for in-text citations.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/language-rules\/parentheses\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/language-rules\/parentheses\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/language-rules\/parentheses\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Parentheses () | Definition, Punctuation, Rules &#038; Examples\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/\",\"name\":\"Scribbr\",\"description\":\"The checkpoint for your thesis\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Scribbr\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/scribbr-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/scribbr-logo.png\",\"width\":902,\"height\":212,\"caption\":\"Scribbr\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/scribbr_\",\"http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/scribbr\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/Scribbr-us\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/#\/schema\/person\/19d2701e30b048a54778383566aa93df\",\"name\":\"Shane Bryson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6d83b0e956d5f139c27b01619d8652e0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6d83b0e956d5f139c27b01619d8652e0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Shane Bryson\"},\"description\":\"Shane finished his master's degree in English literature in 2013 and has been working as a writing tutor and editor since 2009. He began proofreading and editing essays with Scribbr in early summer, 2014.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/author\/shane\/\"}]}<\/script>","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Parentheses () | Definition, Punctuation, Rules & Examples","description":"In academic writing, parentheses are often used to convey technical information, to introduce acronyms, and for in-text citations.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/language-rules\/parentheses\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Parentheses () | Definition, Punctuation, Rules & Examples","og_description":"Parentheses are used to add extra information in a sentence. In academic writing, they are most often used to convey technical information such as","og_url":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/language-rules\/parentheses\/","og_site_name":"Scribbr","article_published_time":"2015-04-14T09:17:36+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-11-29T11:08:13+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":627,"url":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/open-graph-scribbrcom.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Shane Bryson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Shane Bryson","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/language-rules\/parentheses\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/language-rules\/parentheses\/"},"author":{"name":"Shane Bryson","@id":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/#\/schema\/person\/19d2701e30b048a54778383566aa93df"},"headline":"Parentheses () | Definition, Punctuation, Rules &#038; Examples","datePublished":"2015-04-14T09:17:36+00:00","dateModified":"2022-11-29T11:08:13+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/language-rules\/parentheses\/"},"wordCount":282,"commentCount":2,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Language rules"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/language-rules\/parentheses\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/language-rules\/parentheses\/","url":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/language-rules\/parentheses\/","name":"Parentheses () | Definition, Punctuation, Rules & Examples","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-04-14T09:17:36+00:00","dateModified":"2022-11-29T11:08:13+00:00","description":"In academic writing, parentheses are often used to convey technical information, to introduce acronyms, and for in-text citations.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/language-rules\/parentheses\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/language-rules\/parentheses\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/language-rules\/parentheses\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Parentheses () | Definition, Punctuation, Rules &#038; Examples"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/","name":"Scribbr","description":"The checkpoint for your thesis","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/#organization","name":"Scribbr","url":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/scribbr-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/scribbr-logo.png","width":902,"height":212,"caption":"Scribbr"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/scribbr_","http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/scribbr","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/Scribbr-us\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/#\/schema\/person\/19d2701e30b048a54778383566aa93df","name":"Shane Bryson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6d83b0e956d5f139c27b01619d8652e0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6d83b0e956d5f139c27b01619d8652e0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Shane Bryson"},"description":"Shane finished his master's degree in English literature in 2013 and has been working as a writing tutor and editor since 2009. He began proofreading and editing essays with Scribbr in early summer, 2014.","url":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/author\/shane\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7951"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7951"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7951\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":447546,"href":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7951\/revisions\/447546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scribbr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}