Parenthesis

Punctuation is the basic element of English grammar and without it a sentence is not only incomplete but also insensible. There are various marks of punctuation that are used in sentences to give them more meaning and make it easier for the reader to understand. If we omit these punctuation marks from a sentence we will be left hanging. Also, without a punctuation mark a sentence can have various meanings and the reader might assume the meaning the writer is not conveying.

Today I will talk about the easily mistaken and confused punctuation mark called parenthesis and its usage in English language.

Denotation:

The punctuation mark parenthesis is represented by two curved semi circles one after the other and appears as ( ).

Parenthesis:

Often confused with brackets, parenthesis clarifies the additional information or something that is related to the original text but is still different.

Example:

My wife took it all out on me (after thinking whole night) knowing I wasn’t wrong.

Parenthesis might sometimes come at the end of a sentence and in that case the period comes after the parenthesis.

Example:

The bus leaves in the afternoon (3:00 p.m.)

The use of commas is usually after the parenthesis than before them.

Example:

He had tea (with some donuts), when he got home.

Note that the above example used the comma after the parenthesis.

If the above sentence was written like:

He had tea, (with some donuts) when he got home.

This sentence is incorrect with regard to punctuation.