The Canadian Style
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- - Close Punctuation
- Introduction to Punctuation
- Spacing
- The Period, Main purpose
- Imperatives, exclamations and indirect questions
- Ellipsis points
- Leaders
- Other uses
- Periods properly omitted
- The Question Mark, Main purpose
- Requests, indirect questions and other uses
- The Exclamation Mark, Main purpose
- The Exclamation Mark, Miscellaneous
- The Comma, General
- Restrictive/non-restrictive
- The Comma, Co-ordinate elements
- Clarity and emphasis
- Omitted words
- Quotations, etc.
- Names and titles
- Dates, geographical names and addresses
- Commas properly omitted
- The Semicolon, Between independent clauses
- The Semicolon, Co-ordinate elements
- Misuse and overuse
- The Colon, Between independent clauses
- Annunciatory function
- The Colon, Miscellaneous
- Misuse
- Parentheses, General
- Clarification
- Punctuation with parentheses
- Afterthoughts and asides
- Parentheses within parentheses
- Legal documents
- Letters and numerals
- Square Brackets, General
- Use within parentheses
- Use
- Multiples
- The Em Dash, General
- Enumerations
- Interruptions, pauses, afterthoughts, clarifications and emphasis
- Summarizing
- Material in apposition
- Headings
- Lists and tables
- Punctuation with em dash
- The En Dash, Numerals
- Compound expressions
- Compound words
- Spelling and enunciation
- The Oblique, General
- Abbreviations
- The Oblique, Numerals
- Alternatives and headings
- Possession
- Inanimate possessors
- Compounds
- Two nouns (group genitive)
- Geographical names
- Institutions and organizations
- Its
- Contractions
- Plurals
- Vertical Lists, General
- Use of colon
- Numbering
- Use of semicolon
- Complete sentences
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7.31 Punctuation with parentheses
A parenthesis consisting of a complete sentence does not take an initial capital and final period unless it stands alone between complete sentences:
- To achieve the best possible results, adopt a combination of the CPM and PERT methods. (See a model of such a combination in the attached paper.) This will provide you with an effective, low-cost control mechanism.
An opening parenthesis should not be preceded by any other mark of punctuation unless the parentheses are being used to enclose numbers or letters of enumeration (see 7.35 Letters and numerals):
- I am (I hope) reliably informed that a new president has been appointed.
After the closing parenthesis, any punctuation which would be appropriate in the absence of the parenthesis should still be used:
- I am (I hope), always have been and always will be an honest judge.
Before a closing parenthesis only a period, question mark, exclamation mark or quotation mark is permitted:
- I have always been willing (do you not agree?) to hear both sides of the issue.
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