Grammar Rule & Examples:

For our Grammar Talks presentation, we chose parentheses and brackets as our grammar rule. The first thing that I learned was how to distinguish parentheses from brackets: parentheses are round brackets ( ) and brackets are the squared version of parentheses [ ]. Parentheses are similar to commas as they can expand on an afterthought or an explanation, they can add more information to a sentence and they can be used as interrupters in a sentence which can change the style of writing. When using parentheses, you could also remove the words in the parentheses and the point of the sentence would still get across. An example of a sentence using parentheses is: “Toby Ford (last year’s team captain) is expected to win most valuable player.” The information inside of the parentheses is information that otherwise would not have been included. Brackets can be used to clarify, to correct or to further explain what was intended by the original speaker. An example using brackets to clarify information is “She [Angelina Jolie] is a very kind person.” This is a perfect example of how to use brackets because the reader may not have known what “She” was referring to, allowing the original speaker to further explain their intents by adding useful information into the brackets. When using periods with parentheses or brackets, the period almost always goes at the end of the sentence on the outside of the parentheses or brackets. However, the period could go on the inside of the parentheses if the entire clause is in the parentheses. “I ate all of the pickles in the jar. (They were quite delicious.)” I also learned that parentheses and brackets can be used together in a sentence. The square brackets can be used inside the parentheses to indicate something dependent to the dependent clause. However, parentheses and brackets can never be used interchangeably.

References:

https://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/parens.asp

Straus, Jane, and GrammarBook. “Parentheses and Brackets.” GrammarBook.com | Your #1 Source for Grammar and Punctuation, Jane Straus/GrammarBook, www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/parens.asp.

https://www.ef.com/wwen/english-resources/english-grammar/brackets-and-parentheses/

“Brackets and Parentheses | English Grammar.” EF Blog, EF Education First Ltd.

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/punctuation/parentheses-and-brackets

Oxford University Press. “Parentheses and Brackets ( ) [ ] | Oxford Dictionaries.” Oxford Dictionaries | English, Oxford Dictionaries, en.oxforddictionaries.com/punctuation/parentheses-and-brackets.

https://www.dictionary.com/e/parentheses/

Dictionary.com. “What Are The ( ) { } [ ] And ⟨ ⟩?” Dictionary.com, Dictionary.com, 21 Aug. 2018, www.dictionary.com/e/parentheses/.