Marilyn  +  3896 Mon, 11 Aug 03 05:24 AM When it requires de-emphasis, non-essential material in a sentence is set off by a: a.period. b. pair of parentheses. c. comma d. colon Marilyn Joined on Mon, Aug 11 2003 New Member 06 Colons, Commas

	hitchhiker  +  3933 Mon, 11 Aug 03 02:53 PM Hi Marilyn, welcome to the forums.. I would say 'brackets' (that's what I tend to use) hitchhiker Joined on Mon, Nov 18 2002 Richmond, UK Senior Member 3,442 "They obstinately persisted in their absence." —HGTG

	kitkattail  +  4016 Tue, 12 Aug 03 04:46 AM Either a pair of parentheses or a pair of commas. It depends on HOW non-essential the information is. The parentheses would indicate that it is even less essential than something you might put between two commas. The other two are incorrect. You can't set off non-essential material with a period or a colon. kitkattail Joined on Tue, Aug 12 2003 Toronto Full Member 400 www.kitkattail.blogspot.com Colons, Commas

	pedant  +  22447 Sat, 14 Feb 04 08:07 AM I'd argue your goals are in conflict. If de-emphasis is what you want, use commas. Brackets tend to emphasize their contents simply because they are less common. But brackets also suggest greater separation. So if non-essentiality is your goal, brackets say it most clearly. pedant Joined on Thu, Dec 18 2003 Full Member 104 Colons, Commas

	rommie  +  22553 Mon, 16 Feb 04 09:49 AM For what it's worth, I disagree with the above comment. There are several ways to set off pathenthetical elements. My understanding is that the use of brackets (like this) serves to DE-emphasise; the use of commas, like this, has neutral emphasis; and the use of dashes - like this - has positive emphasis. But then - that's punctuation for you. It has rules of its own. Rommie rommie Joined on Mon, Jan 26 2004 Earth orbit Regular Member 606 Colons, Commas, Punctuation