1
The workshop begins at 9:30 a.m. (doors open at 9:00).
8 Parentheses Examples
Use these examples to study structure, specificity, tone, and variation. They are demonstrations—not claims about a real person or organization unless the example itself makes that explicit.
Before you copy
What to notice in the examples
Effective parentheses keep secondary material genuinely secondary, preserve a readable main sentence when the parenthetical is removed, and avoid hiding information that readers actually need for the primary meaning.
- Use parentheses for brief supplementary information rather than essential content.
- Make sure the surrounding sentence remains grammatical when the parenthetical is removed.
- Place sentence-ending punctuation according to whether the parenthetical is part of a larger sentence or a complete standalone sentence.
- Prefer commas or em dashes when the inserted information should feel more integrated or more emphatic.
2
The World Health Organization (WHO) published the updated guidance.
3
Three reviewers completed the audit (two editors and one accessibility specialist).
4
The archive closed in 2018 (the reading room reopened the following year).
5
We tested the page on three browsers—Chrome, Firefox, and Safari—not merely the two originally listed (Chrome and Safari).
6
The revised policy applies to new accounts created after 1 October (existing accounts follow the previous schedule until renewal).
7
The team selected the second design. (The first remained as a fallback if testing exposed accessibility problems.)
8
A short parenthetical can clarify a date or abbreviation without interrupting the main sentence for long.
Keep the underlying decision or pattern, then replace the subject, evidence, relationship, constraints, and tone with details that belong to your situation. If your final line still works after swapping only one noun, it may be too close to the example.