5 RULES of the use of PARENTHESIS

Both the punctuation marks Like the orthographic signs are governed by certain rules of use. As well as the comma and period, the use of exclamation marks, question marks or parentheses perform certain functions within sentences that can help us better understand when to employ them. In this line of explanation, this lesson from a Teacher aims to present the rules for using parentheses.

Before listing the rules for the use of parentheses, it is important that we know what this is. punctuation sign in Spanish.

According to the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language (RAE) the "parenthesis", identified with the symbols "(" and ")", It is understood as an orthographic sign that facilitates inserting additional information within a sentence. However, while this definition is fully valid, parentheses have various uses. Before developing each of them, we pay attention to its main characteristics.

Characteristics of the use of parentheses

This series of points applies to the parentheses regardless of the use that is being given to it:

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It should always be opened and closed, that is, start with its form "(" and end with its form ")". For example: "Camilo Rodríguez (born in Bogotá) is 30 years old."
The sign always must be attached to the word with which it opens and closes in use. That is, we cannot use the parentheses in the following way: “friends”. If you realize there we are separating the sign from the information that we want to add. The correct case would be: "friends (as)".
Can be combined with other spelling signs. We can insert it into a question: "Does the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language (RAE) have the definition of parentheses?"
In case the parenthesis closes and then a punctuation mark comes, this will be pasted to the parenthesis: "We are the union (he thought), then they went to the field." As you can notice, comma is attached to the parentheses with the parentheses, it must be used in the same way if you use a colon, period or semicolon.

Rules of the use of parentheses - What is the use of parentheses?

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Now, since we know what the parenthesis is and what its main characteristics are, let's see how to use this spelling sign according to the use or function required in the sentence. Here are the 5 most important rules for using parentheses to keep in mind when writing.

To clarify information

Also known as the clarifying paragraphs, occurs when parentheses are used to give the reader extra information about what is being stated. You can make sense of the information that is before or after it. Here you can identify a couple of examples:

The meeting (the fifth we have had this week) will be held in the boardroom.
Camila's father (who participated in the war) is in the hospital.

To give precision

This type of use is used, more than anything, to clarify dates, data, acronyms, periods, among other. Let's see some examples:

United Nations (UN).
Former United States President Obama (2009-2017) has retired from politics.
The Argentine writer Samanta Schewblin has written several books such as Pájaros en la boca (2008) and Distancia de rescue (2014).
Catalan is spoken in the city of Barcelona (Spain).

To enter options

Another rule of the use of parentheses is that it is used to introduce an option. We refer to this use when we want to give an alternative to reading, either to the word as a whole or to fragments of it. For example:

The holiday (s) will be paid.
Dear friends, I have some important news to give you.
We are looking for a boy to work printing T-shirts.

To quote

Different citation formats use parentheses to indicate data about the fragment of the text that is being cited, be it the year, the page or the author of the work. To find out exactly how the parenthesis is used, we invite you to read about its use in the APA citation rules.

It is worth clarifying that within the citations parentheses with three points "(...)" are used to indicate that a portion of the text is being omitted or removed It was going right where we put the signs.

To indicate author's annotations

Although it is used mostly in theater, this use seeks to introduce an idea of the author into a scene, especially to clarify actions or characteristics of the dialogues. For example:

Susana (shouting over the table): Leave me alone!

To enter items in a list

Perhaps one of the best known, this function is used to make enumerations or lists in an organized manner. See therefore its use in cases such as:

Places to walk the dog: (a) Central park; (b) Backyard; (c) Lake.
The following text will be developed in an organized manner within the framework of these points: (a) General explanation of the topic; (b) Exhibition of evidence; (c) Evaluation of evidence; (d) Analysis of the results; (e) Conclusions.