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English · Punctuation

Punctuate parenthesis

Mark one parenthetical interruption with a consistent punctuation pair.

Watch the worked example

The Matching Pair

This video shows how to use a matching pair of punctuation marks to set extra information apart in a sentence. Watch an 11+ English question solved step by step.

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Quick quiz: Punctuate parenthesis

10 questions, with feedback after each one. No sign-up needed.

Read the questions in this quiz
  1. Question 1

    This sentence needs a pair of commas around the extra information. Which version puts them in the right place?

    • A.During the interval, Mr Doyle, our rather serious conductor, told an actual joke.
    • B.During the interval, Mr, Doyle our rather serious conductor, told an actual joke.
    • C.During the interval, Mr Doyle, our rather serious, conductor told an actual joke.
    • D.During the interval, Mr Doyle our rather serious conductor told an actual joke.
  2. Question 2

    This sentence needs a pair of commas around the extra information. Which version puts them in the right place?

    • A.Since September, the school bus, always the last to arrive, has been running early.
    • B.Since September, the school bus always the last to arrive has been running early.
    • C.Since September, the school, bus always the last to arrive, has been running early.
    • D.Since September, the school bus always, the last to arrive has, been running early.
  3. Question 3

    This sentence needs a pair of commas around the extra information. Which version puts them in the right place?

    • A.By Friday, the sunflower, the tallest one in the class, had outgrown the window.
    • B.By Friday, the sunflower, the tallest one in the, class had outgrown the window.
    • C.By Friday, the sunflower the, tallest one in the class had, outgrown the window.
    • D.By Friday, the, sunflower the tallest one in the class, had outgrown the window.
  4. Question 4

    This sentence needs a pair of commas around the extra information. Which version puts them in the right place?

    • A.In the end, our coach, the calmest person in the, room stopped the argument.
    • B.In the end, our coach, the calmest person in the room, stopped the argument.
    • C.In the end, our coach the, calmest person in the room stopped, the argument.
    • D.In the end, our coach the calmest person in the room stopped the argument.
  5. Question 5

    This sentence needs a pair of commas around the extra information. Which version puts them in the right place?

    • A.On the coldest night, the pond, frozen right across, held our weight easily.
    • B.On the coldest night, the pond frozen, right across held, our weight easily.
    • C.On the coldest night, the pond frozen right across held our weight easily.
    • D.On the coldest night, the pond, frozen right, across held our weight easily.
  6. Question 6

    This sentence needs a pair of commas around the extra information. Which version puts them in the right place?

    • A.Last winter, the reservoir usually, brimming to the wall dropped, by three metres.
    • B.Last winter, the reservoir usually brimming to the wall dropped by three metres.
    • C.Last winter, the reservoir, usually brimming to the wall, dropped by three metres.
    • D.Last winter, the reservoir, usually brimming to the, wall dropped by three metres.
  7. Question 7

    This sentence needs a pair of commas around the extra information. Which version puts them in the right place?

    • A.Since September, Priya always the last to arrive has been getting in early.
    • B.Since September, Priya, always the last to, arrive has been getting in early.
    • C.Since September, Priya, always the last to arrive, has been getting in early.
    • D.Since September, Priya always, the last to arrive has, been getting in early.
  8. Question 8

    This sentence needs a pair of commas around the extra information. Which version puts them in the right place?

    • A.At the fair, Theo never, one to turn down a dare went, on the highest ride twice.
    • B.At the fair, Theo, never one to turn down a dare, went on the highest ride twice.
    • C.At the fair, Theo, never one to turn down a, dare went on the highest ride twice.
    • D.At the fair, Theo never one to turn down a dare went on the highest ride twice.
  9. Question 9

    This sentence needs a pair of commas around the extra information. Which version puts them in the right place?

    • A.At the fair, our, neighbour a retired blacksmith, bent a horseshoe with his hands.
    • B.At the fair, our neighbour, a retired blacksmith, bent a horseshoe with his hands.
    • C.At the fair, our neighbour a, retired blacksmith bent, a horseshoe with his hands.
    • D.At the fair, our neighbour, a retired, blacksmith bent a horseshoe with his hands.
  10. Question 10

    This sentence needs a pair of commas around the extra information. Which version puts them in the right place?

    • A.During the interval, Yusuf, our rather serious conductor, told an actual joke.
    • B.During the interval, Yusuf our rather serious conductor told an actual joke.
    • C.During the interval, Yusuf, our rather serious, conductor told an actual joke.
    • D.During the interval, Yusuf our, rather serious conductor told, an actual joke.

Practise it now

Mark off the extra information in this sentence with a pair of brackets. Brackets are the pair that whispers: what is inside is an extra the sentence can live without.

It covers most of this skill rather than all of it.

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A worked example

One question of the kind this skill is tested with, worked all the way through: the reasoning, and what the wrong answers are there to catch.

Worked example: Where does a pair of commas go?

Worked example: This sentence needs a pair of commas around the extra information. Which version puts them in the right place?

  1. Our science teacher asked Freya, the only pupil with a telescope, to explain the eclipse.
  2. Our science teacher asked Freya the, only pupil with a telescope to, explain the eclipse.
  3. Our science teacher asked Freya, the only pupil with a, telescope to explain the eclipse.
  4. Our science teacher asked Freya the only pupil with a telescope to explain the eclipse.

Answer: Our science teacher asked Freya, the only pupil with a telescope, to explain the eclipse.

How you get there

Cover "the only pupil with a telescope" and what is left reads as an ordinary sentence, which is the test for extra information. So a pair of commas goes around exactly those words, opening before "the" and closing after "telescope". The version that reads "Our science teacher asked Freya the, only pupil with a telescope to, explain the eclipse." is wrong because the marks close one word too late, taking "to" inside them even though the sentence needs it.

Why the other answers tempt

Both marks of the pair have to move together; getting the opening one right is only half the job.

If they are stuck, say this

Find the words you could cover with your thumb and still read a whole sentence. The pair of marks goes around exactly those words and no others.

Now do it live in Bracket Inserter

What this exercise is doing

Bracket Inserter

Mark off the extra information in this sentence with a pair of brackets. Brackets are the pair that whispers: what is inside is an extra the sentence can live without.

A parenthesis is an aside: drop it and the sentence is unharmed. "Scientists measured the whale at thirty metres." proves it. The pair of marks goes tight around the whole aside and nowhere else - one mark before "longer" and one after "field" - giving "Scientists measured the whale at thirty metres (longer than our school field)." Because the aside runs to the end, the closing bracket sits INSIDE the full stop: the full stop belongs to the sentence, not to the aside. A dash or a comma could not close it here at all, because there is nothing left to pair with.

What to say if they get stuck

  1. Lift a run of words out. If the sentence still stands up on its own, that run is the extra bit.
  2. The sentence works perfectly well as "Scientists measured the whale at thirty metres." - so everything you took out is the aside.
  3. Open before "longer" and close after "field" - and the closing bracket goes INSIDE the full stop, not after it.

Open Bracket Inserter on its own page to share it

Related english skills

All english 11+ skills

Questions parents ask about punctuate parenthesis

What this skill involves, common mistakes and ways to practise it at home.

Mark one parenthetical interruption with a consistent punctuation pair. It is one of 41 named English skills in the 11+, in the punctuation strand, and this page carries 1 interactive exercise that practises it.

Comprehension, vocabulary, grammar and punctuation are four different problems

A free diagnostic separates them, so practice goes where the gap actually is rather than on whichever one is easiest to set.