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Subject:Re: Parentheses with other Punctuation - Question From:Jane Bergen <janeb -at- ANSWERSOFT -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 13 Mar 1997 11:07:46 +0000
On 13 Mar 97 at 9:55, Mike Ingram wrote:
> An example of what I am interested in would involve multiple
> sentences within the parentheses. An example might be
>
> Text text text text (Text text text. Text text text. Text text
> text.) text text text.
>
> My question is whether to go ahead and have periods for each
> sentence within the parentheses. As I found when I looked a bit, the
> references use an example with a single sentence and omit the
> period. I am leaning toward using periods for all sentences within
> the parentheses or trying to convince the authors that a rewrite is
> needed.
>
> Comments?
It's hard to say with such a generic example, but if it's at all
possible, I would do it as follows:
Text text text text text text.
* Text text text.
* Text text text text.
* Text text text.
When you embed sentences within sentences, you create a cognition
problem for your readers. They must hold too much information in
memory in order to process the ideas. For example, you are breaking
up one sentence, an act which requires the readers to patch the parts
together. In the meantime, the readers have to also process the
parenthetical information....all the while still holding onto the
patch job. I think it definitely needs to be reworked, for your
readers as well as for the interest of good writing.
Jane Bergen
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"my opinions are my own..."
Jane Bergen, Technical Writer
janeb -at- answersoft -dot- com
AnswerSoft, Inc. Dallas, TX
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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