Brackets (also called parentheses) can be used instead of commas or dashes (see below*). They can be useful for:

• adding information: The house is the third one on the left (with a red front door).
• explaining or clarifying: The kleptomaniac (someone who steals things for excitement) will appear in court tomorrow.
• providing an example: An exclamation mark may show that something is urgent (‘Help! I’m drowning!).

You can see from the above that the information in brackets is not essential to the sentence – it is just giving extra information of some sort. You should be able to leave out what is in brackets and the sentence will still make sense without the information.

A dash (–) can be used instead of a comma, colon or semi-colon. A single dash can be useful for separating parts of a sentence in order to:

• provide extra information: You’ll need to fetch the spade – the one with the wooden handle.
• create a pause for effect: There are three mountains to climb – enormous ones!
• to show hesitation: I – um – wanted to say – um – that I love you.

*A pair of dashes can be used instead of commas or brackets: The way that we get there – and I know there are many other ways – is to go through the forest.

A dash is slightly longer than a hyphen.