What Are Brackets?
From periods to colons and hyphens, punctuation marks play an important role in writing. Brackets are commonly used punctuation marks that appear in pairs. The first bracket in a pair is called an opening bracket, and the second one is called a closing bracket. There are different types of brackets used in writing, all of which serve different purposes.
Why Are Brackets Used?
Be it providing additional information or offering clarification, brackets have varied uses across disciplines. They are commonly used in academic writing and scientific writing, especially while providing references and citations. Brackets are also in mathematics (calculations) and computer science (programming).
Types of Brackets
There are four different types of brackets:
Parentheses
Parentheses, also known as round brackets, are commonly used to elaborate on something, indicate plurals, offer clarification, provide additional information, add an afterthought or an opinion, or present an abbreviation.
Parentheses usage examples:
- Stephen King (the author) has a great sense of humor.
- She works as a scientist at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA). - I’ll see you on Tuesday at the conference (avoid the rush hour to reach the venue on time).
- Dates are good for your health (and tasty too).
- Leave your mobile phone(s) with the concierge.
Curly Brackets
Curly brackets, also called braces, are used in the case of lists and grouping of sets. These brackets are rarely used in writing.
Curly brackets usage examples:
- You can choose what you want to drink {coffee, tea, coke} from the menu.
- We will be meeting the Griffins {Peter, the father; Lois, the mother; and Stewie the son} next week.
- The cakes {birthday cakes, wedding cakes, anniversary cakes} look fabulous.
- The wild animals {lions, tigers, bears, leopards} we saw in the zoo seemed tame.
- N = {1,2,3,4…}, where N stands for the set of natural numbers. Here, the flower brackets enclose a set of natural numbers.
Square Brackets
Square brackets are used to provide additional or missing information. They’re also used to indicate the actions and gestures of characters in a movie or a play.
Square brackets usage examples:
- Becca said, “He [John] is not in town.”
- “I see [the] gate!” exclaimed Jenny.
- Two teams [Argentina and France] reached the FIFA World Cup finals.
- [Juliet enters]
- [Desdemona leaves the room]
Angle Brackets
Angle brackets, also called chevrons, are brackets that are angular. Like curly brackets, angle brackets are rarely used in writing. They’re used when any extra details or context is provided. They’re employed more extensively in mathematics and computer science.
Angle brackets usage examples:
- She asked me how I was <and also told me I looked tired>.
- Works cited: Department of Social Services 2020, <https://www.dss.gov.au/>.
- Enter your <Name>, <Date>, <Course Code>, <Course Name>.
- I asked Sandra how she was <she completely ignored me and walked away>.
- Jerry saw Elaine walk in <and he immediately walked out>.
Brackets are useful punctuation marks because they enable writers to add information that is important. Since extra details in a sentence can make a sentence lengthy and confusing, using a pair of brackets helps keep a sentence simple and makes it easier to understand it.
