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✏️ Brackets and Dashes for Extra Information

Some information is not the main point — it is a helpful aside the sentence could live without. Learn the lift-out test for spotting it, then three tools for tucking it in: brackets to whisper, dashes

5
lessons
~15 min
to learn
🗣️ Language
subject
Adults
level
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What you’ll learn

  1. The Part a Sentence Could Live WithoutIdentify extra information (a parenthesis) using the lift-out test and know it needs a pair of marks.Some words in a sentence are the main message and some are extra information, or a parenthesis. The test is to lift the words out: if the sentence still makes sense, they were extra. Extra information is nearly always wrapped in a pair of marks, one on each side.
  2. Brackets: the Quiet WhisperUse round brackets as a pair to enclose a quiet, skippable detail.Round brackets (parentheses) are the quietest way to add an aside, setting a detail clearly apart as something the reader could skip, such as 'The Great Fire of London (1666)...'. They must come as a matching pair, an opening and a closing bracket.
  3. Dashes: the Bold AsideUse a pair of dashes to add emphasis or surprise to an aside.A pair of dashes does the same job as brackets or commas but with a bold, dramatic feel, throwing a spotlight on the aside. Dashes suit surprising or emphatic extra information and, like the other marks, come in a pair.
  4. Commas: the Gentle MiddleUse a pair of commas to blend an aside smoothly, remembering both commas are needed.A pair of commas is the gentlest and most common way to mark an aside, folding it smoothly into the sentence, as in 'My teacher, Mrs Lee, has a parrot.' Writers most often slip by leaving out the second comma, which hides where the aside ends.
  5. Choosing and Pairing Your MarksChoose brackets, dashes, or commas by tone and always pair them correctly.Brackets, dashes, and commas do the same job with different voices: brackets whisper, dashes spotlight, commas blend. Choosing between them is choosing how loud the aside should be. All three follow the golden rule of coming in a pair, one mark on each side of the aside.

Questions this course answers

What is the test for whether some words are 'extra information' (a parenthesis)?

Extra information can be removed without breaking the sentence. If what's left still makes complete sense, the words were extra.

In 'My uncle, who lives in Spain, is visiting next week,' which part is the removable aside?

Lift out 'who lives in Spain' and you still get a whole sentence: 'My uncle is visiting next week.'

What is the main slip to avoid when using brackets?

Brackets come as a pair, an opening ( and a closing ). Forgetting the closing bracket leaves the aside without both its arms.

Compared with commas, what feeling do a pair of dashes give an aside?

Dashes are bold and dramatic; they throw a spotlight on the aside, unlike the gentle, blended feel of commas.

Which sentence marks the aside correctly with commas?

An aside needs a comma before AND after it. Only 'Aisha, my best friend, is coming...' uses the full pair.

You want an aside to feel like a dramatic surprise. Which marks fit best?

Dashes give the boldest, most dramatic feel, so they suit a surprising or emphatic aside.

Grounded in trusted sources

  • BBC Bitesize — How to use parenthesis: dashes, brackets and commas (parenthesis is extra information that can be removed without breaking the sentence) (https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zvwwxnb/articles/zhpt7yc)
  • Oak National Academy — Parenthesis: brackets, dashes and commas, KS2 English (https://www.thenational.academy/teachers/programmes/english-primary-ks2/units/key-terminology-including-determiners-fronted-adverbials-and-parenthesis/lessons/parenthesis-brackets-dashes-and-commas)

Every Wunder lesson is built from real, reputable sources — never invented.

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