Here’s yet another mistake from real life. Do you see the error?

“It is true that if you are farming on the moon or in the desert, then hydroponics might make sense (If you have to grow in such a parched landscape.)”

It’s a common punctuation error.

And it’s about the period inside the parentheses. When you use parentheses, the period goes either inside or outside. How do you know which?

  • If the words inside the parentheses are not a complete sentence, then don’t treat it as such and the period goes outside.
  • If the words inside the parentheses are a complete sentence, then treat it as such and the period goes inside.

In this case, the period should not be inside the parentheses because the words enclosed by the parentheses are not an independent clause or sentence on their own. The sentence should have been punctuated as:

“It is true that if you are farming on the moon or in the desert, then hydroponics might make sense (if you have to grow in such a parched landscape).”

Or we can rewrite it so the words within the parentheses are a complete sentence and we get the following and the period goes inside:

“It is true that if you are farming on the moon or in the desert, then hydroponics might make sense. (That is, if you have to grow in such a parched landscape.)”

Does that make sense? (If not, let me know.)

P.S. Did you see what I did there? 😉

 

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Sharon Ernst is a retired freelance copywriter now on a mission to improve the business and marketing writing skills of today’s workforce with her blog, newsletter and online classes.