Learn English – Should period (full stop) be inside or outside brackets

periodspunctuation

If some part of the sentence at the end is enclosed in brackets, should the full stop be inside or outside the bracket?

I need to visit the supermarket to get some fruits, groceries and clothes (and also to meet my friend who works there).

OR

I need to visit the supermarket to get some fruits, groceries and clothes (and also to meet my friend who works there.)

Note: The example is only to illustrate the question.

I have seen both usages, and did not find any place where such a rule is described.

Best Answer

The easiest way to make sure you do this the right way is to mentally remove the entire parenthetical portion. Then ask yourself, is the sentence still punctuated correctly?

In this case, we have a problem (because I've put the period inside the parentheses.)

In this example, everything is fine (because the period is still at the end of the sentence).

(This one is very awkward, because the exclamation point is left all by itself)!

(A parenthetical statement without any other text should include the period inside the parentheses.)

The first and third sentences are incorrectly punctuated, for the reasons explained in the sentences themselves.

Related Topic