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Grammatically Correct: The writer's essential guide to punctuation ...

Grammatically Correct: The writer's essential guide to punctuation ...

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PUNCTUATION<br />

• It is permissible <strong>to</strong> use a pair of dashes within parentheses, but<br />

think before you do so. <strong>The</strong> parenthesized text is already an aside,<br />

and it can be distracting <strong>to</strong> have an aside within an aside. (See<br />

"Marking Off a Descriptive Element or Digression" on page 154.)<br />

• Ensure that parentheses always come in pairs. Particularly with<br />

longer elements, writers occasionally forget that text is parenthetical,<br />

and neglect <strong>to</strong> close it off.<br />

• When parentheses enclose a sentence that stands alone, put<br />

the terminal <strong>punctuation</strong> mark inside the parentheses.<br />

Dealing with multiple <strong>punctuation</strong> marks in a single sentence can be<br />

tricky. (<strong>The</strong> positioning of parentheses and periods is a case in point.)<br />

<strong>The</strong> shoe was now on the other foot. (Or was it?)<br />

For weeks afterward, he kept a wide berth of the shop. (Evidently, he had<br />

learned his lesson!)<br />

• When parentheses enclose just part of a sentence, obsenre the<br />

following conventions:<br />

-Put the terminal <strong>punctuation</strong> mark outside the parentheses,<br />

even if the parenthesized element comes at the end.<br />

<strong>The</strong> promotion was unanimously approved (although some members<br />

privately had their doubts).<br />

Do you really think this move is necessary (because if not, we still have<br />

time <strong>to</strong> cancel it)?<br />

After all, someone has <strong>to</strong> win (ridiculous as the odds are)!<br />

(In the case of exclamation points, note that it would actually be<br />

somewhat counterproductive <strong>to</strong> put parenthesized text at the end<br />

of the sentence, since the purpose of an exclamation point is <strong>to</strong><br />

impart excitement or urgency, and the interruption would detract<br />

from this. If you ever do construct such a sentence, analyze it<br />

carefully. It is likely that recasting it would improve it.)<br />

-If a comma, semicolon or colon is needed between what<br />

precedes and follows the parentheses, put it after the closing<br />

parenthesis-not before the opening one, and not in both places.<br />

<strong>The</strong> room contained only a sofa (much the worse for wear), a faded<br />

armchair and a carpet (if that stained and threadbare square could be<br />

called such); the other furnishings had long since been sold off.<br />

151

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