Using Brackets.

With thanks to Grammar Monster

Round brackets can be used to insert an afterthought or to expand or clarify something nearby (usually the text immediately preceding). Although the most common type of parentheses, brackets are just one of the choices of parentheses. Commas and dashes can also be used. The advantage of using brackets is they are easy to spot. The disadvantage is they tend to make writing look a little informal. Brackets and the information inside can usually be removed from the text without any loss of meaning.

When using brackets, the positioning of end punctuation (usually a period / full stop ) follows logic. For example:

• She will ride a pony (but not a Dartmoor pony).

In this example, the end punctuation belongs to the main sentence not to the parenthesis, i.e., the bit in brackets.

• She will ride a pony. (However, she will not ride a Dartmoor pony.)

In this example, the end punctuation belongs to the parenthesis.

• She will ride a pony (She told me yesterday) but not a Dartmoor pony.

In this example, the parenthesis is a standalone sentence within another sentence. When this happens, for readability, it is okay to omit the end punctuation.