Parenthesis in English
The word ‘parenthesis’ originates from the Greek: something placed in besides. Parenthesis is a phrase that will be qualifying, or in some way explanatory, which has been entered into a sentence with which it has no grammatical connection. To illustrate that this is the case, the phrase is enclosed in round brackets. The best way to demonstrate this is to use an example. ‘The boy arrived early, (he was always too scared of the consequences to arrive late) quickly took his place and hoped no one had noticed him.’ In this sentence, the parenthesis is obviously the phrase ‘he was always too scared of the consequences to arrive late’. We know that it is parenthesis because the brackets indicate that to the reader. The brackets serve to separate the phrase from the rest of the sentence. This allows the parenthesis to introduce something that is actually detached grammatically from the rest of the sentence but is usefully explanatory. This extra information about the boy is useful to the reader.
The brackets are a clear signal to the reader that there is something contained within that is not strictly part of the sentence, but they usefully also indicate that they enclose very interesting information nevertheless; something that will add to the informative worth of that sentence.
Brackets are also used in expressing algebraic equations on paper and in computer terminology, without the parenthesis being involved. There are times when it is hard to know if you have used brackets correctly; dashes are very similar in use. This can be easily rectified by the use of online grammar software, which can quickly check if you have used brackets correctly.
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