Should a timeframe within parentheses after a sentence, include punctuation such as a period? See example

Question

I have a survey and the survey has an estimated time to complete. The sentence structure is as follows.

This quick survey assesses your perceptions of hazing. (10 minutes)

My question is, because the end of the sentence is after "hazing." Should I write the sentence like this?

This quick survey assesses your perceptions of hazing (10 minutes).

Or should it be:

This quick survey assesses your perceptions of hazing. (10 minutes).

Because it is an estimate of time to complete a task, i wasn't sure if it was part of the initial sentence.

I feel like 1 or 2 can be correct, though, I personally would lean toward 1. The timeframe seems like extraneous information that doesn't belong in the sentence and doesn't warrant a sentence of itself. My opinion. — BenjaminF, Dec 15 '18 at 01:10
Related (but not duplicates): Where does the period go when using parentheses? and In which cases is a comma/period placed inside or outside of parentheses? — Chappo Hasn't Forgotten, Dec 15 '18 at 08:35

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 15 '18 at 05:55

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Whether or not the parenthetical information is in a second sentence is up to you. (Although I personally think it would be more common to include it at the end of a single sentence—your first option.)

But if it is in a second sentence, and the second sentence includes nothing but parenthetical information, it would be unusual if the parenthetical information itself weren't treated as a sentence with its own internal punctuation.

This might be made clearer with a different example.

While style is subjective, I would argue for the more common styling below.

✔ He told me to leave. (So did she.)
✘ He told me to leave. (so did she).

Returning to your actual example and applying the same styling:

This quick survey assesses your perceptions of hazing. (10 minutes.)

answered Dec 15 '18 at 05:55

Jason Bassford

38,040

@Chappo I agree with what you said with respect to parenthetical information coming within the same sentence. (Your first example is correct—nothing inside parentheses affects the punctuation or grammar of the surrounding text.) But that's not what's happening here. Do you mean to say you think the following is correct? He told me to leave. (So did she). I've never actually seen any real-world example of a complete sentence inside parentheses being punctuated that way. – Jason Bassford Dec 15 '18 at 06:57
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@Chappo Interesting. I found a reference to APA Style which backs me up on full punctuation inside if it's its own sentence. However, that's an American style guide. I'd be fascinated (and edit my answer) if you could come up with a UK style guide that says something different. – Jason Bassford Dec 15 '18 at 07:46
Jason, I think I'll have to change my approach to writing and editing: the consensus of answers here and here is that full-sentence punctuation goes within the parentheses, exactly as you suggest. Strange: I feel like I've lost something precious... – Chappo Hasn't Forgotten Dec 15 '18 at 07:46

Should a timeframe within parentheses after a sentence, include punctuation such as a period? See example

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