For example, f( x) is the function f applied to the variable x. Parentheses are also used to set apart the arguments in mathematical functions. Various notations, like the vinculum, have a similar effect in specifying order of operations, or otherwise grouping several characters together for a common purpose. This helps to distinguish between one such level and the next. Following this convention, when more than three levels of nesting are needed, often a cycle of parentheses, square brackets, and curly brackets will continue. This is not commonly used in formal writing (though sometimes other brackets will be used for one or more inner set of parentheses [in other words, secondary Ī related convention is that when parentheses have two levels of nesting, curly brackets (braces) are the outermost pair. Parentheses may be nested (generally with one set (such as this) inside another set). Examples of this usage can be seen in editions of Fowler's. Parentheses have historically been used where the dash is currently used in alternatives, such as "parenthesis)(parentheses". Examples include the southern American author William Faulkner (see Absalom, Absalom! and the Quentin section of The Sound and the Fury) as well as poet E. Parenthetical phrases have been used extensively in informal writing and stream of consciousness literature. "(s)he agreed with his/her physician" (the slash in the second instance, as one alternative is replacing the other, not adding to it). It can also be used for gender neutral language, especially in languages with grammatical gender, e.g. They can also indicate shorthand for " either singular or plural" for nouns, e.g. Parentheses may be used in formal writing to add supplementary information, such as "Senator John McCain ( R - Arizona) spoke at length". In American usage, parentheses are usually considered separate from other brackets, and calling them "brackets" is unusual. That issue is fixed by using a pair of dashes instead, to bracket the parenthetical. A milder effect may be obtained by using a pair of commas as the delimiter, though if the sentence contains commas for other purposes, visual confusion may result. Parentheses contain adjunctive material that serves to clarify (in the manner of a gloss) or is aside from the main point. Parentheses / p ə ˈ r ɛ n θ ɪ s iː z/ (singular, parenthesis / p ə ˈ r ɛ n θ ɪ s ɪ s/) are also called "brackets" (UK, Ireland, Canada, West Indies, New Zealand, South Africa and Australia), "parens" / p ə ˈ r ɛ n z/, "round brackets", "circle brackets" or "smooth brackets". For the Wikipedia policy on brackets, see Wikipedia:Manual of Style § Brackets and parentheses. However, in other languages like German, if brackets enclose text in italics, they are usually also set in italics. In English, typographers mostly prefer not to set brackets in italics, even when the enclosed text is italic. In 1961, ASCII contained parenthesis, square, and curly brackets, and also less-than and greater-than signs that could be used as angle brackets. Square brackets appeared with some teleprinters.īraces (curly brackets) first became part of a character set with the 8-bit code of the IBM 7030 Stretch. Most typewriters only had the left and right parenthesis (and quotation marks). Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus coined the term lunula to refer to the rounded parentheses ( ) recalling the shape of the crescent moon ( Latin: luna). 6.2.3 Angle brackets in programming languagesĬhevrons ⟨ ⟩ were the earliest type of bracket to appear in written English.5.1.2 Curly brackets in programming languages.4.1.5 Square brackets in programming languages.3.1.4 Parentheses in programming languages.Various forms of brackets are used in mathematics, with specific mathematical meanings, often for denoting specific mathematical functions and subformulas. In most English-speaking countries, an unqualified 'bracket' refers to the round bracket in the United States, the square bracket. Specific forms of the mark include rounded brackets (also called parentheses), square bracket, curly brackets (also called braces), and angle brackets (also called chevrons), as well as various less common pairs of symbols.Īs well as signifying the overall class of punctuation, the word bracket is commonly used to refer to a specific form of bracket, which varies from region to region. Typically deployed in symmetric pairs, an individual bracket may be identified as a left or right bracket or, alternatively, an opening bracket or closing bracket, respectively, depending on the directionality of the context. A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings.
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