In this lesson we are going to talk about parenthetical information. Parenthetical information is a glamorous way of saying information set off by commas or dashes in the middle of a sentence. Now, as a writer I love parenthetical information because it allows you to nestle so much interesting stuff in the middle of what could be a boring sentence. The ACT loves to see if you can understand the intended meaning of a sentence by checking to see whether you know how to properly set off parenthetical information.

So let's take a look at a couple examples. Amelia Earhart, who was the first woman to ever fly solo across the continental United States, remembered or was remembered for her courage. So this little question is testing a verb issue here, should it be remembered or was remembered. But what makes this a tougher verb question is this parenthetical information here, because that is putting a lot of extra stuff between our subject and the verb part we're looking for.

So parenthetical information is always extra. It may be interesting, but it's always additional information. And that means you should be able to cross it out, and the sentence should still read fine, I like to bracket it off, so I'm not getting rid of all those words or covering up all those words there. So we can always lift out the parenthetical information and read the sentence.

Amelia Earhart, remembered for her courage, or Amelia Earhart was remembered for her courage. Once we take out this parenthetical information it should be a lot more obvious that we need that verb, was, there. Amelia Earhart was remembered for her courage. So you can do this on the test, it's a great trick for really long sentences, bracket off the parenthetical information, so you can concentrate on the main part of the sentence.

Here is a trickier one. Let's see if this underlying portion is correct. He finished last in the race, which was not surprising to many who knew him because he rarely trained, and followed a diet fit for a medieval king. So, let's go ahead and bracket off, find our commas, and bracket off our parenthetical information here, and we have he finished last in the race and followed a diet fit for a medieval king.

Now, that sounds fine as a sentence, but we also wanna make sure that it, the meaning, the correct meaning is being conveyed here. So, let's take a look at that information in the middle, which was not surprising to many who knew him because he rarely trained, and followed a diet fit for a medieval king. This part, because he rarely trained and followed a diet fit for a medieval king.

That's connected, and it's the reason why he finished last in the race. He finished last in the race because he rarely trained, and followed a diet fit for a medieval king. If we take out that parenthetical information, we lose that, we just have two disconnected ideas, he finished last on the race, and followed the diet fit for a medieval king.

So we need to change where that parenthetical information is. We need to move the comma here. He finished last in the race, which was not surprising to many who knew him. So, let's bracket that off, he finished last in the race, because he rarely trained, and followed a diet fit for a medieval king. That is the meaning the sentence is trying to convey.

So let's take a look at a test example with four answer choices. Sometimes, you're gonna see questions that ask you to correctly use parenthetical information to help clarify a sentence. So, let's look at this example, the kiwi is not as many have been assuming indigenous to Australia but is originally from China. So we need to find the one here that correctly sets off some additional clarifying information in parenthetical information is set of commas.

And this is kind of wordy. It's not as many have been assuming. We probably don't need to say all that. B, is not what many would assume, being indigenous. Yeah, that awkward being there, it's also really wordy. C, the kiwi not as many would assume is indigenous to Australia but is originally from China.

That is confusing. But D, the kiwi is not, as many would assume, indigenous to Australia but is originally from China. So, we got this parenthetical reclamation that's telling us that many people assume this. Well, let's make sure that the sentence, the new sentence would still read fine without that.

The kiwi is not indigenous to Australia but is originally from China. So that is correct. But this as many assume gives us a extra bit of information that many people think that is true. Let's look at one more example. The 18th century composer Wolfgame, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who many remember as the cackling wunderkind from Milos Foreman's 1984 film Amadeus, far from being restrained was not quite as clownish as the movie made him out to be.

Okay so, remember we can always bracket off our parenthetical information to help us concentrate on the main part of the sentence. And the underlying part is the main part of the sentence here. So the no change option would be the 18th century composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, far from being restrained was not quite as clownish as the movie made him out to be. So it seems like we need some other comma.

There's something setting that off. They're kind of running some ideas together. So let's check out our other options. The 18th century composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, while far from being restrained, while far from restrained not being as clownish. That awkward being again.

That's a little wordy, so we're gonna eliminate answer trace B. Let's try C, the 18th century composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was not quite as clownish as the movie made him out to be, while far from being restrained. Hm, that's okay. Kind of wordy, maybe not the clearest phrasing. Let's try D.

The 18th century composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was far from restrained yet not quite as clownish as the movie made him out to be. This puts that verb right next to the subject if we, if we eliminate this parenthetical information anyway. So we have that really clear, direct, active phrasing in the main part of the sentence.

Mozart was far from restrained yet not quite as clownish as the movie made him out to be, so our answer is D. Okay, so here are some rules for making sure our punctuation matches up, which is really important. On the test, you'll sometimes see parenthetical information set off with commas or with dashes, and we don't want to mix the two, so we have the force, I have the sentence repeated four times here.

This is bad, we have dash and a comma, here's another version, also bad, dash first, then a comma. The other two would be just fine. It can be two comma's here, my sister Lindsey was far from shy, has been entering public speaking competitions since she was six, where it could be two dashes, dashes, we use when we wanna make more of an emphasis sending off that information.

So, my sister Lindsey who is far from shy, has been entering public speaking competitions since she was six. So let's just recap really quickly here. Parenthetical information can be set off by commas or dashes, and should always be able to be lifted out of the sentence and the remaining sentence should still work. And you should cross out the parenthetical information and read the sentence without it, if you're testing an issue in the main part of the sentence.

That can be really helpful to help you sort through all those words. And finally, don't mix your punctuation. Use a pair of commas or a pair of dashes, but don't use one comma and one dash, or vice versa. Always make sure you're using the same punctuation to set off that parenthetical information.