Questions tagged [parentheticals]

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Do I need the comma in "it is in short...everthing"? [duplicate]

The intended meaning is that 'it', described simply, is 'everything'. Would I write: It is in short...everything. Or: It is, in short...everthing. Instinctively, I believe that a comma is needed ...
AMS's user avatar
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31 views

What is the correct punctuation when using two adjacent parentheticals in the middle of a sentence? [duplicate]

I was reading an amateur novel which had this sentence: Humans by nature, at least in this day and age are fickle creatures. My immediate thought was that the comma placement was wrong. My first ...
Adam's user avatar
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2 answers
100 views

Is it correct to allow a parenthesized sentence to be followed by another parenthesized sentence? [duplicate]

I've searched. Other questions appear to mostly deal with nesting and punctuation positioning. This one does not at its core. I will stress again, due to multiple dupe flags.. This question is NOT ...
Scott's user avatar
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16 views

Parenthetical element: Comma or dash? [duplicate]

I am unsure when to use comma and when to use dashes when writing parenthetical elements in as sentence. For instance: He answered - or at least he tried to answer - the question correctly. He ...
Wasd9595's user avatar
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2 answers
61 views

Is there a term for insincere prefacing?

Is there a specific term for the practice of prefacing a statement with another statement that is in contrast (in spirit) to what is being said? There is a related concept called apophasis, where you ...
Philip Mars's user avatar
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48 views

What rules govern whether a parenthetical phrase can be moved anywhere else?

Can all parenthetical phrases be moved to somewhere else in the sentence, without loss of meaning? I just tried it with about 5 parenthetical phrases, examples from a grammar site, and I think they ...
user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
228 views

What part of speech is "so much so that"?

I was fascinated by the company, so much so that I wrote a book about it. I am trying to understand what justifies the use of the comma before "so much so that." Does it behave as a ...
QuestioningAll's user avatar
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33 views

Can an em-dash function as both an opener to its own parenthetical and simultaneously close a nonrestrictive clause introduced by a comma?

I've read that you are not supposed to include a comma before 'in which', since it is part of a restrictive clause linked to a noun. If you do put a comma before it, it is to render it part of a ...
Hexagon's user avatar
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29 views

Should there be a comma after an M-dashed, parenthetic phrase [duplicate]

Should there be a comma — is this comma necessary? —, after an M-dashed, parenthetic phrase? And are those spaces necessary, on both sides of the parenthetic phrase? (ignore the '?', but as a third ...
HellishHeat's user avatar
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0 answers
36 views

Commas Around a Disjunct After a Coordinating Conjunction? [duplicate]

Which punctuation is correct for this sentence? : "I took the dog to the park this morning and, of course, he needed a bath afterwards because he rolled in the mud." "I took the dog to the park this ...
kasethula's user avatar
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1 answer
201 views

I, and I/me alone, did it all

I, and I/me alone, did it all. Which option, I or me, and why, should be used in a parenthetical like this one? Secondly, is it the same situation as in Me/I alone, I did it ?
GJC's user avatar
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Can appositives rename a verb?

While researching, I discovered the existence of 'summative' and 'resumptive' modifiers, which are both types of appositive. For context, here is an example of a summative modifier: He saw the ...
MJ Ada's user avatar
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2 answers
90 views

What are some alternatives to parenthetical statements?

What are some good alternatives to parenthetical statements in writing? I notice that I tend to use (or rather, overuse) parenthetical statements when writing. Often, the parenthetical statements ...
Clay Sweetser's user avatar
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0 answers
33 views

Can you ever place a comma ᴀꜰᴛᴇʀ the word "which"? [duplicate]

Is there any scenario in which a comma is used right after the word which? For example, is this sentence correctly written as is — or not? The sensitivity to material AAA, which, in fact, is ...
user15847's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
40 views

Should the addition of context from a parenthetical footnote be 1 directional? [closed]

... Earth's atmosphere limits how far you can see but let's ignore that for a moment. On such a flat world, you will never see a distant object sink out of sight. It would just get smaller with ...
Nosajimiki's user avatar
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0 answers
36 views

Clarification versus assent

If person A says, “A hymn is a way to show devotion.” And person B added, “ to a deity.” So that the sentence is: A hymn is a way to show devotion [to a deity] Is it correct to say that person B is ...
Indira Singh's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
60 views

How do parenthetical if-statements work? E.g. "he is a happy, if quiet, boy."

I might even be using it wrong in the example. How are these statements usually structured, and what's the implication of using this construct ("he is a happy, if quiet, boy") rather than something ...
charlie's user avatar
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2 answers
483 views

Hyphenating words with words in parenthesis

I know we could write between high- and low-yield crop rotation groups but how do we write the same sentence if we have to write between high (CC and CCS) and low (CS and SCS) yield crop ...
MAPK's user avatar
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2 answers
78 views

Is "The eviction process coincided with the deterioration of John's, Vlad's son, health." correct?

The eviction process coincided with the deterioration of John's health, Vlad's son. or The eviction process coincided with the deterioration of John's, Vlad's son, health. The second sentence ...
John Smith's user avatar
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2 votes
2 answers
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"Which" followed by "although"

I'm curious to hear some thoughts on whether this sentence is grammatically acceptable. Although it reads fine in my head, I feel a bit uncomfortable placing although after the word which. [...] our ...
user1637156's user avatar
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2 answers
55 views

parenthetical sentence with coordinate clause sharing the same direct object

Is this grammatical in English? An Italian wizard named Mirkius has found, and managed to control, a ferocious creature named Onestus
elio sottoscritti's user avatar
-1 votes
1 answer
458 views

Is there a space between parenthesis at the end of a parenthetical remark?

I wonder what to do about parentheses that follow each other, as in this phrase: "(I have taken out my comments in the GoogleDoc (and corrected a couple of spelling errors thanks to Grammarly) )." I ...
jtoenjes's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
75 views

Several questions regarding a passage by Robert Boyle

Robert Boyle once wrote in one of his papers: That, then, which I chiefly aim at is to make it probable to you by experiments (which I think hath not yet been done) that almost all sorts of qualities,...
Kaveh's user avatar
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What's proper punctuation for a sentence ending with an abbreviation followed by a parenthetical phrase? [duplicate]

Other questions here address a sentence ending in an abbreviation, and when a sentence-ending abbreviation is followed by a question-mark. But what about when a sentence-ending abbreviation is ...
D. Sullivan's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
165 views

Mass Noun em-dash List-of-Plurals em-dash Verb [closed]

Is it just me, or? All of the content you see on Stack Exchange—all the questions, answers, edits, reviews, users, badges, tags, and more—is stored in a relational database. Seems technically ...
Kris's user avatar
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What do you call a parenthetical word / phrase / letter that changes the meaning of a sentence?

Common uses of parenthetical statements are equivalent to i.e. or e.g. appositives. This includes elaboration or examples that clarify but don't change the meaning of the larger phrase or sentence ...
Sparr's user avatar
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Can a comma before a coordinating conjunction be parenthetical? [duplicate]

Can an ostensibly misused comma before a coordinating conjunction actually be a parenthetical comma? Consider: Sally picked apples, and placed them in her basket. This is considered a misuse of the ...
binaryfunt's user avatar
3 votes
3 answers
5k views

Where do I put the question mark if a question has a parenthetical statement at the end?

What would you have me do (given some factor is a and another factor is b and some other statement-y thing follows as well -- I'm not even sure what to make of the whole thing, not to mention that ...
Yevgeny Simkin's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
2k views

Comma placement for a parenthetical after "and"?

I find myself writing sentences like this often: A. Here's a summary of our discussion, and if needed, more detail can be found at www.website.com. I'm not sure if the commas there look quite ...
Rogare's user avatar
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1 answer
1k views

Correct rule for placement of a parenthetical phrase in a sentence

What is the correct rule for placement of a parenthetical phrase in a sentence? Let me explain the problem with the following example sentence wherein any person would find the people placing the ...
Dinesh Kumar Garg's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
4k views

How to use semicolons to set off a list in a the middle of a sentence

How would you use the semicolon in the following sentence? He had worked on a number of films, including Monsters, Inc., Sex, Lies, and Videotape, and Toy Story, but never got noticed for the work ...
debbiesym's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
89 views

What does the usage "in Donald Trump" mean in the following sentence?

A newly aggressive Russia under Vladimir Putin and, in Donald Trump, an American president who is unenthusiastic about both the EU and NATO, make this a terrible time for Europe to be weak and divided....
Bakebake's user avatar
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4 votes
2 answers
641 views

Are the days of using dashes over? [duplicate]

I ran into a sentence which I would like to share in here to prepare the context for my question. "it was shown that TBT, HBT, and HSDT1 have the same results in order to derive fundamental ...
Sajjad's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
53 views

Which form of punctuation is the most appropriate for this parenthetical? [closed]

Which form of punctuation is the most appropriate for this parenthetical? The strategy team is relatively new, the unit split from its parent group in early 2016, but their work is already well known....
mmilo's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
652 views

Usage of commas to separate a sentence beginning with "and in fact..." [duplicate]

I'm not sure which of these two is the better choice: "...some properties, which are suggested, and in fact implied, by the conditions 1 and 2." "...some properties, which are suggested ...
jack201's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
74 views

Differences in meaning between using parenthetical comments and not

What are the differences between using parenthetical comments and not? Such as if you have this sentence : Calhoun's ambition, to become a goalie in professional soccer, is within his reach. ...
Aufa Husen's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
1k views

Comma placement in a "parenthetical expression preceded by a conjunction"

I was reading Strunk and White's Elements of Style, and I disagree with the comma placement in the following example: If a parenthetic expression is preceded by a conjunction, place the first comma ...
AleksandrH's user avatar
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2 votes
2 answers
4k views

Is it correct to put a definition in parentheses? [closed]

Here is an example: The process includes situation awareness (the state of knowing the conditions that affect one’s work)... I want to know whether it is correct (or acceptable or unacceptable) to ...
user3424278's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
96 views

Too many commas [duplicate]

Please join us Monday, August 1, 2016, for the 4th Annual Tee It Up for Down Syndrome Golf Tournament at Deer Run Golf Club in Victoria, Minnesota Do I need a comma before and after the date?
kathleen's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
8k views

"... any change, or addition, is ..." vs. "... any change, or addition, are ..."

In the sentence below is has been used, but there is some disagreement in the office over whether it should be are: This is necessary to ensure that any change, or addition, to existing ...
DCDimon's user avatar
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0 votes
0 answers
757 views

Use of semicolon to separate items within a list that appears within a parenthetical element

For low-complexity ML detection, breadth-first approaches, such as ... , have been chosen as a reasonable alternative..." There are three examples of said breadth-first approaches, which appear ...
Robert Astle's user avatar
5 votes
3 answers
184 views

The name of this grammar structure

It is a serious, and sometimes fatal, disease that may become epidemic in crowded, unsanitary living conditions. I'm trying to find the name of grammar structure (a very technological term, not just ...
cityofunited's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
6k views

Should I place a comma here—and if so, why?

In the following sentence, should I include a comma after "acquiring"—and if so, why? German residents who agree to declare that they possess, or have begun the process of acquiring**,** ...
Rossitten's user avatar
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1 vote
0 answers
46 views

how to parenthetically modify something which I don't know what it is? [duplicate]

I'm trying to say something like "X has something to do with Y (which I don't know what it is)". Clearly, the expression in the parenthesis is awkward here. I'm trying to parenthetically modify the ...
xdavidliu's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
819 views

parenthetical prepositional phrase

The narrator, in the quote, said that things turned out to be horrible. According to the question I previously posted, this parenthetical prepositional phrase "in the quote" is made possible by ...
sooeithdk's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
97 views

Comma Confusion

Can someone please clear up my confusion with commas when they are used to set aside nonessential elements. An example sentence: After conceding defeat to his rivals, James took it upon himself to ...
Sean's user avatar
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3 votes
2 answers
1k views

Should "Scientific research in general(,) and numerical mathematics in particular(,)" take singular or plural agreement?

This question is not a dublicate of "Singular or plural verb form where subject includes a 'parenthetical' element" since the latter discusses only compound subjects with "as well as". Is the ...
Peter's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
942 views

Parenthetical commas

Parenthetical/nonessential/non-restrictive commas are proving to be the bain of my life atm. My first question is whether they are all names relating to the same idea? Non-restrictive modifiers, for ...
Sean's user avatar
  • 307
1 vote
2 answers
2k views

Comma issue: noun of direct address in the middle of the sentence after conjunction

Another nitpicky comma question that I hope you will help me to resolve. How does one need to punctuate the noun of direct address (or vocative) in the middle of the sentence that goes directly after ...
Paul S.'s user avatar
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0 votes
2 answers
157 views

Isn't this an illogical comparison?

Here is a usage and mechanics question that I need help understanding: Change the italicized portion with the best replacement, or choose A if correct. When light from a distant source, ...
Wesley's user avatar
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