Punctuation: Brackets (Parentheses)

Question 5.2 has arrived:

Thank you very much for your explanation about appositive.

Re the 2 sentences in the question, are they grammatically correct? (For the 2nd question, the punctuation after the word 'piety' should be a dash rather than a question mark.) Can I call this kind of explanatory notes between commas or dashes 'paraphrasing'?

For convenience, let's re-paste the second sentence:

Among some nationalities, one virtue that is highly regarded is filial piety?obedience to and respect for parents.


There are two things wrong with this sentence:

The first relates to question structure: 'one virtue that is highly regarded is filial piety?' is not a question.  It is a sentence, with a question mark added to the end.  To make this a question, you would have to rephrase differently, for example:

Is one virtue that is highly regarded filial piety?

- or (to make to make it a little easy to read) -

Is filial piety a highly regarded virtue?


The second thing wrong is, as you suspected, the punctuation.  I think you have confused yourself by trying to be sophisticated with your English.  The easiest way to punctuate the sentence is by using brackets:

Is filial piety (obedience to and respect for parents) a highly regarded virtue?

Brackets (or parentheses) are the easiest way to add additional or clarifying information in sentences.  The only potential problem with brackets is when they appear at the end of sentences or questions:

Is one virtue that is highly regarded filial piety (obedience to and respect for parents)?

You'll notice that the '?' comes after the second bracket.  This is because the bracketed information is part of the sentence, not separate from it.  This 'double punctuation construction' can cause problems of clarity; particularly in the case of a question.  This is another reason why I would suggest the alternative question structure:

Is filial piety (obedience to and respect for parents) a highly regarded virtue?


I hope that helps.  Any further questions, feel free to ask!