Year 5 English · Key Stage 2 · Vocabulary, grammar and punctuation – English Appendix 2

Year 5 brackets, dashes and commas: a guide for parents

In Year 5, children learn to add extra information to a sentence using a pair of brackets, dashes or commas, which is called parenthesis. They also learn to use commas to make the meaning of a sentence clear and to avoid ambiguity, where a sentence could be read in two ways. Both depend on seeing a sentence as a main idea with other details around it.

Parenthesis and commas for clarity, explained

Parenthesis is a word, phrase or clause added to a sentence as an explanation or afterthought. It is called extra because the sentence would still make sense without it. “My grandad, who is seventy-two, digs his vegetable patch every Saturday” still works if you remove “who is seventy-two”. Three kinds of punctuation can mark parenthesis, and each must be used in a pair, one at the start of the extra information and one at the end: commas, brackets and dashes. Many teachers use a simple test, “take it out and see”: if what is left is still a complete, sensible sentence, the extra detail is parenthesis.

The three choices give a different feel. Commas are the most ordinary and are used for most extra information. Brackets are a quieter aside, as if the writer is lowering their voice: “The museum (which was free) was packed.” Dashes put more weight on the extra information and are good for something dramatic or surprising. Children are asked to choose between them deliberately, and to say why. When parenthesis is in the middle of a sentence, the punctuation that the sentence needs anyway goes after the closing bracket, not inside it.

The second objective is about commas to clarify meaning or avoid ambiguity. Ambiguity means that a sentence could be understood in two different ways. The classic example is “Let’s eat Grandma” compared with “Let’s eat, Grandma”: one comma separates a call to dinner from a very worrying plan. A comma can also stop a reader tripping over a sentence, as in “While we were eating, the cat jumped onto the table”, where without the comma the reader might at first think the cat was being eaten. Children are taught to ask of their own writing, “Could someone read this the wrong way?” and, if so, to add a comma or reword the sentence.

This is a skill that develops over time, so do not expect perfection in Year 5. By now children have met commas in lists, after fronted adverbials and in speech, and the task is to make every comma do a job. The terms they are expected to use are parenthesis, bracket, dash and ambiguity, so you may hear a teacher ask, “Is that a good place for a bracket?” Brackets and dashes are also a way of giving writing the sound of a real voice, which is why they turn up in diaries, letters and stories.

Words your child will hear

Parenthesis: A word, phrase or clause added to a sentence as extra information, marked off by brackets, dashes or commas.
Bracket: One of a pair of curved marks, ( and ), used to enclose extra information.
Dash: A line longer than a hyphen, used singly or in pairs to separate extra information or an afterthought.
Comma: A mark used to separate items or parts of a sentence, to help the reader.
Ambiguity: When something can be understood in more than one way.
Ambiguous: Describes a sentence or phrase that can be read in two or more ways.
Clause: A group of words with a subject and a verb. A parenthesis can be a clause, a phrase or a single word.

What the National Curriculum says

The programme of study for Year 5 says:

Pupils should be taught brackets, dashes or commas to indicate parenthesis
Pupils should be taught use of commas to clarify meaning or avoid ambiguity
Pupils should be taught to recognise and use the grammatical terminology: parenthesis, bracket, dash, ambiguity

Objectives from the National Curriculum in England, © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Try it: adding extra information and removing ambiguity

Add the extra information “who is seventy-two” to the sentence “My grandad digs his vegetable patch every Saturday” three different ways. Then fix the sentence “Let’s eat Grandma”.

Decide where the extra information fits. It describes grandad, so it goes straight after the word grandad.
Version one, with commas: “My grandad, who is seventy-two, digs his vegetable patch every Saturday.” There is a comma before who and another after seventy-two. Both are needed, because the extra information needs to be fenced off on each side.
Version two, with brackets: “My grandad (who is seventy-two) digs his vegetable patch every Saturday.” This sounds like a quiet aside. Version three, with dashes: “My grandad – who is seventy-two – digs his vegetable patch every Saturday.” This puts more weight on the information.
Check each version with the take-it-out test. Without “who is seventy-two”, we get “My grandad digs his vegetable patch every Saturday”, which is a complete sentence, so the information really is parenthesis.
Now the ambiguity. “Let’s eat Grandma” can be read as an invitation to eat Grandma. Grandma is being spoken to, so she needs a comma before her name: “Let’s eat, Grandma.”

My grandad, who is seventy-two, digs his vegetable patch every Saturday. (Or with brackets or dashes round “who is seventy-two”.) Let’s eat, Grandma.

Common mistakes and how to help

Using only one comma, bracket or dash: “My grandad, who is seventy-two digs…”

Children remember to mark where the extra information begins, then run on and forget it needs to be closed. Brackets are easy because they come in a pair, but commas and dashes look like single marks.

What helps: Say “the pair” out loud. Count that for every opening mark there is a closing one, and read the sentence with the extra information left out.

Putting essential information inside the parenthesis

Children bracket anything that feels like extra detail, even when the sentence needs it to make sense. “The boy (who won) was happy” loses its meaning if we do not know which boy.

What helps: Apply the take-it-out test. If the sentence no longer makes sense or says something different, the information is essential and should not be fenced off.

Putting a comma wherever they would take a breath

Reading aloud, commas seem to mark a pause, so children add them wherever they pause. But a pause does not always mean a comma, and some commas have no audible pause at all.

What helps: Treat a comma as a signal about meaning, not breathing. Ask, “What does this comma tell the reader?” Read the sentence without it and see whether it could be misunderstood.

Putting the sentence’s own punctuation inside the brackets

Children treat the bracket as part of the sentence’s structure and tuck a comma or full stop inside it, as in “My grandad (who is seventy-two,) digs…”.

What helps: The closing bracket belongs to the extra information only. Any punctuation the main sentence needs comes after it, and a full stop goes at the very end.

How to help at home

Take it out and see. Pick a sentence from a book that has brackets, dashes or commas round some extra information. Cover the extra part with a finger and check the sentence still works. Then try a sentence where it does not.
Three versions of an aside. Write a sentence about someone in the family with extra information, such as “My cousin, who is five, loves trains”. Write it again with brackets and with dashes, and talk about which version your child prefers.
Make a funny misreading. Think up sentences whose meaning changes with a comma, in the style of “Let’s eat, Grandma”. Your child writes the clear and the confusing version, which makes the effect of the comma memorable.
Add a secret aside to a diary. Ask your child to write a diary entry with at least two bracketed asides, as if whispering to the reader. It is a good way to see how brackets create a personal voice.
Check the pair. When your child writes something for school, ask them to draw a small arch over each piece of parenthesis. If there is only one mark, it is easy to see that a partner is missing.

Updated 20 October 2026.