Brackets (uses and misuses)

Brackets are useful

1. when you use an acronym. For example, the World Health Organization (WHO).
2. when citing academic references. For example, National Institute of Mental Health. (2018). Eating disorders: About more than food (NIH Publication No. TR 17-4901).
3. when adding extra information to the main sentence, clarifying something inside the sentence, or including an aside.

The third use should be in moderation. Overuse makes you look indecisive or as though you are giving irrelevant information. It can be quite irritating for the reader.

Here is a paragraph with brackets. How can we remove the superfluous ones and make the text look as though all the information is equally important?

Test yourself. Find a solution to remove the brackets where appropriate.

1. The process will ensure that the three levels of the organization (country, regional and headquarters) are aligned to deliver on the commitments made to Member States.
2. We will have complete data transfer (ideally) by the middle of 2024 to the new System for Programme Management.
3. This document provides a list of guiding notes (as annexes) for operational planning in the region.
4. The key determinants of the poor maternal and newborn indices in Nigeria (including Kebbi and Sokoto States) are poverty, low literacy level and sociocultural issues.

Suggested answer key

1. The process will ensure that the country, regional and headquarters levels of the organization are aligned to deliver on the commitments made to Member States.
2. We will ideally have complete data transfer by the middle of 2024 to the new System for Programme Management.
3. This document provides a list of guiding notes, as annexes, for operational planning in the region.
4. The key determinants of the poor maternal and newborn indices in Nigeria, including Kebbi and Sokoto States, are poverty, low literacy level and sociocultural issues.

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Author: Carol Waites

Presentation/editing by Christina O’Shaughnessy 
https://worldwidewriting.org/

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Carol Waites (PhD)
Email: carolswritingtips@gmail.com
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Carol’s memoir of her times at the United Nations, Behind the Flags, is available on Amazon and lulu.com

ISBN 9783952632703 Behind the Flags Amazon
9783952632710 Behind the Flags Black and White Version Amazon (Australia and Japan)
9783952632727 Behind the Flags lulu.com