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Should the words inside a set of parentheses be capitalised?

For example:

... usually read for personal enjoyment (Recreation) or ...

or

... usually read for personal enjoyment (recreation) or ...

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2 Answers

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You only need capitalize a parenthesis if it is a complete sentence terminating with a period or full stop. Thus:

... usually read for personal enjoyment (recreation) or ...

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Would it be wrong, however, to capitalise the words inside the sentence? – JFW Mar 5 '11 at 9:21
@JFW: Apologies for the belated response. You may decide to capitalize any words within a parenthetic sentence for any stylistic reason, and that would not be deemed wrong. Also, there may be words that have to be capitalized, e.g. proper nouns, song titles, etc. The same rules of capitalization in sentences hold for parenthetic ones, as well. I hope this answers your question. – Jimi Oke Mar 6 '11 at 3:52
up vote 2 down vote

There is no need to capitalize words in parentheses.

Where we were going (it was not open for discussion) was kept secret from us.

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