Welcome to the April edition of Write It Well's newsletter. Each month we offer you our time-tested tools and strategies that make it easier to write at work. Feel free to forward this message to friends and coworkers who are also interested in learning to write more effectively.

How to Use Dashes and Parentheses

As a rule, dashes and parentheses set off information that isn't essential to the meaning of a sentence. The primary difference between these punctuation marks is how they emphasize or de-emphasize words.

Dashes call attention to the information they set off: 

Aileen has a knack for learning new computer software--even though she has never taken a class--and often helps her colleagues with new applications.

And parentheses indicate that the information they enclose is less important than the rest of the sentence: 

Aileen has a knack for learning new computer software (even though she has never taken a class) and often helps her colleagues with new applications.

TIPS FOR USING DASHES

1. Use dashes to highlight information that you could also set off with commas if you didn't want to call attention to it. 
2. If you're setting off information in the middle of a sentence, be sure to use a pair of dashes: one dash before the phrase or clause and another dash after it.
3. If the information you are setting off comes at the end of a sentence rather than in the middle, use just one dash.
4. Never use a comma before or after a dash.

TIPS FOR USING PARENTHESES

1. Since readers often skip information included in parentheses (or pay less attention to it), make sure you save parentheses for information that is not crucial to your message.
2. Use parentheses the first time you want to present or explain an acronym.
3. For parenthetical statements in the middle of a sentence, don't use a comma before the first parenthesis mark. Use a comma after the closing parenthesis only if you'd still add a comma there if you removed the information inside the parentheses.
4. When the words in parentheses come at the end of a sentence, the final punctuation mark goes outside the parentheses (like this).
5. When a separate sentence is enclosed in parentheses, place the final punctuation mark inside the parenthesis. (Here's an example.) 
6. Always use both opening and closing parentheses.    

Our new book Essential Grammar is available now! Learn more about dashes, parentheses, other punctuation marks, commonly confused words, and the grammar mistakes that business writers make most frequently.  Here's the press release.