Overall, punctuation can be a bit of a bear for most writers to deal with. Commas, colons, semi-colons… they all seem to have a myriad of functions and it’s never quite clear how and when to use them correctly. One form of punctuation that can often be confusing is the parentheses. First of all, the name often confuses people. One parenthesis is just that a “parenthesis” with an “i.” Two, are parentheses. Still, the two terms are often confused, mainly because you never use a single parenthesis. And therein lies one of the most common errors when using parentheses-forgetting to “close” at the end of your parenthetical. For example, if you want add some additional information-a side note, if you will-into your writing, you can do so with parentheses. But, if you forget to use a parenthesis at both the beginning and the end of the side note, it can lead to much confusion. Here is an example:

Incorrect: The Chief Financial Officer shall oversee all fiscal operations (accounting, budgeting, and governmental reporting, but he or she will not participate in strategic planning.

Correct: The Chief Financial Officer shall oversee all fiscal operations (accounting, budgeting, and governmental reporting), but he or she will not participate in strategic planning.

The first example is a bit confusing because there is no closing parenthesis. We don’t know if budgeting and governmental reporting are included in the fiscal operations, or if they are separate.

Parentheses should be used only with information that isn’t an essential or necessary part of the sentence. In prose, they typically detail or explain something, as in the example above. The parenthetical information provides additional information about what “fiscal operations” is referring to.

Similarly, when your writing project will include acronyms throughout, you would indicate them in parentheses first. For example, “The American Heart Association (AHA) is an organization that…” From that point on, you can simply use “AHA” in your writing because you have established for the reader that AHA is synonymous with the American Heart Association. In most legal writing and documents, Arabic numerals are also spelled out for clarity and detail. As in the following: “The building will comprise of 2,000 (two thousand) square feet…”

Another place where parentheses are often seen is in telephone numbers for the area code. Example: (800) 555-1234. Common usage is beginning to transition, however, and sometimes you will see a phone number without parentheses, and using all dashes. Example: 800-555-1234. If you are unsure of which way to format a phone number in your text, consult the style guide you are using to determine if there is a preference.

One of the final, and most important, places to use parentheses is in academic writing when incorporating in-text citations. Unless your style guide prefers footnotes and endnotes, your citations throughout the text will be incorporated using parentheses. The important thing to determine when using parentheses for in-text citations is where to put the final period for the sentence. For example, some citation styles (MLA, APA) require that the period come after the final parenthesis. Others, instead, require that the period come at the end of the sentence verbiage, and before the parenthetical citation. In both MLA and APA, the rule changes again for longer, block quotes. In a block quote, the period comes at the end of the quoted material and before the parenthetical citation.

The above usages for parentheses are the most common instances where parentheses are necessary. The important thing to remember about parentheses is that they should be used sparingly. Whenever you can, use a comma to set off a clause rather than parentheses because commas allow the prose to flow more smoothly. Think about how much of a “pause” you want to insert. Commas naturally bring less of a pause than do parentheses. Moreover, information contained within parentheses in general writing could be removed without altering the intent or meaning of the writing.

As mentioned above, the key to smart parentheses usage is remembering that they work as a pair. Every time you find yourself typing an opening parenthesis “(“, you should also find yourself typing a closing one “)” as well.