In one of the classic retorts in film history, the disappointed Rhett Butler in
Gone With the Wind tells the headstrong Scarlett O’Hara in the end: “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn!” Rhett’s basic statement, of course, is “I don’t give a damn!” The word “frankly” and the phrase “my dear” are good (some would say, sarcastic) examples of
parentheticals. They are expressions not absolutely needed to convey the basic thought in a statement, but they give it texture, help establish mood and context, or simply convey spontaneity. Without them, Rhett’s statement would come across as the immature rant of an adolescent, totally without finesse and irony.
In English, parentheticals come in two kinds: (1) expressions repeatedly used as side remarks, or (2) non-essential words and phrases or even complete sentences that interrupt the flow of a sentence or amplify a point. Familiar examples are these parenthetical expressions: “as a matter of fact,” “of course,” “indeed,” “moreover,” “therefore,” “by the way,” “on the other hand,” “nevertheless,” and “in my opinion.” They emphasize or direct the reader’s or listener’s attention to what is about to be said or being said, or simply serve as transitional devices.
At its simplest, a parenthetical begins a sentence with a modifying idea—
an identifier, qualifier, intensifier, even a negating element—that does not naturally flow with the main sentence: “
Cornelia, please stop sending me junk e-mail.” “
Quick, or you’ll be late for that flight!” “
My God, what have you done with my computer!” Or a parenthetical can introduce an important aside as the statement progresses: “That settles the matter, then, so let’s now proceed.
And by the way, make sure that Evelyn is fully briefed on what needs to be done.”
In their more complex forms, parentheticals interrupt the sentence at any point where the speaker or writer feels like doing so: “The police official
, himself implicated in the pyramiding scam, made himself scarce during the Senate hearings.” “The self-confessed thief
—there was no doubt anymore about his remorse over the crime—offered to return the loot to the owners.” Note that in the first example, enclosing commas were used to set off the parenthetical; in the second example, double-dashes were used instead.
This brings us to the three ways of setting off parenthetical elements to keep the grammatical structure of sentences correct and their basic meaning intact. Commas, of course, are generally used for the mildest interruptions: “Ofelia
, an expert jeweler, said the diamonds were fake.” “The Filipino nurse
, holding two jobs for seven years in Canada, managed to send her three children to college.” “The judge
, to stop the courtroom ruckus, angrily banged the gavel.”
The next higher degree of interruption by a parenthetical element, especially one carrying entirely optional information, is better set off by parentheses: “The Japanese occupation of the Philippines
(from 1942 to 1945) ended when the American liberating forces recaptured Manila.” “Some of the places I visited in Luzon last week
(Bagabag, Nueva Vizcaya; Plaridel, Bulacan; Lucban, Quezon) looked like my own hometown.” “She told me that she wasn’t really angry at me
(which of course was a great relief!).
For the highest degree of interruption, it’s best to use double-dashes. They ensure that longer and more complex parentheticals don’t structurally impair and visually clutter sentences to the point of incomprehension and confusion. See how the double-dashes work in this profoundly interrupted sentence: “There was no way for us to know
—in fact we had absolutely no information where the enemy was at that time—how to deploy our forces in the desert wilderness.”
Neither commas nor semi-colons or colons can properly punctuate sentences of the kind shown above. Using parenthesis, on the other hand, will excessively diminish the parenthetical’s importance to the central idea of the sentence. It’s in grammatical situations like this where the double-dash makes itself most useful and—if truth be told—actually indispensable.
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This essay is a condensation of an 819-word chapter that appeared in the author’s 2004 book English Plain and Simple.
Read this essay and listen to its voice recording in
The Manila Times:
Parenthetically speaking(Next:
The long and short of English prose) July 13, 2023
Visit Jose Carillo’s English Forum, http://josecarilloforum.com. You can follow me on Facebook and Twitter and e-mail me at j8carillo@yahoo.com.
