Punctuation Questions Long
A period should be used within parentheses when it is necessary to end a complete sentence that is enclosed within the parentheses. This occurs when the sentence within the parentheses is a standalone sentence and does not continue the sentence outside of the parentheses.
For example:
- The weather is beautiful today (I might go for a walk.).
- She is an excellent dancer (I have seen her perform many times.).
In both of these examples, the sentence within the parentheses is a complete sentence on its own, and therefore, a period is used to end it. The period is placed inside the closing parenthesis to indicate the end of the sentence within the parentheses.