Parentheses | The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation

Digging Out Extra Details, Clauses, and Words

GrammarBook.com — Wed, 02 Oct 2019 05:00:58 +0000

Writers often walk the fine line of how much information to include in a sentence. What qualifies as too much? We want to include only the details and words that will leave a central point or image clear without slowing the way. Consider the following sentences: On the night of December 25-26, 1776, General George […]

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Year-End Quiz 2018

GrammarBook.com — Wed, 09 Jan 2019 05:00:11 +0000

Another year of grammatical exploration has concluded with linguistic miles behind us. What we’ve learned and discussed with you along the way has been illuminating, and we are grateful for the thought and insight it has inspired. We hope you gathered even more sharpened tools for communicating in concise and eloquent English. A year-end review […]

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In the Zone: It’s About Time

GrammarBook.com — Wed, 08 Aug 2018 05:00:20 +0000

We’re all aware of how vital marked and measured time is to guiding and structuring our days. How then do we treat it in precise and careful writing? We offered some guidelines in our updated April 2017 article Writing Dates and Times. We’ll expand on those here by delving deeper into the most recent editions of […]

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Comma Chameleon

GrammarBook.com — Wed, 05 Apr 2017 17:28:18 +0000

I realize that on the grand scale of interesting things, punctuation is pretty far down the list. (In a recent survey, it was in a dead heat with stovepipes, just behind pocket lint.) Punctuation is a dying art. I’m not sure whether this is the writers’ or the readers’ fault, but I mostly blame the […]

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Punctuation or Chaos

GrammarBook.com — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 15:43:43 +0000

She said I saved the company No one knows for sure what the above sentence means. It consists of six everyday words, and the first five are monosyllables, yet this simple declarative sentence has at least three quite different meanings—maybe more, because with no period on the end, the reader can’t even be sure the […]

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What Have We Learned This Year?

GrammarBook.com — Wed, 17 Dec 2014 01:40:50 +0000

To close out 2014, we have put together a comprehensive pop quiz based on the year’s GrammarBook.com grammar tips. The quiz comprises twenty-five sentences that may need fixing. Think you can fix them? Our answers follow the quiz. Each answer includes, for your convenience, the title and date of the article that raised the topic. […]

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(All About) Parentheses

GrammarBook.com — Mon, 24 Mar 2014 03:25:45 +0000

The singular form is parenthesis, but the plural parentheses is the word you’re more likely to see. Both words have a wide range of related meanings, and what some people identify as a parenthesis, others call parentheses. So let’s keep it simple. For our purposes, a parenthesis is one of a pair of curved marks […]

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Parentheses

GrammarBook.com — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 22:59:34 +0000

Parentheses indicate that the writer feels that the material contained within is of less importance or should be deemphasized. Rule: Use parentheses to enclose words or figures that clarify or are used as an aside. Examples: I expect five hundred dollars ($500). Note: Another grammar tip titled “Writing Numbers as Both Numerals and Words,” treats […]

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