diff --git a/spec/app/language-mode-spec.coffee b/spec/app/language-mode-spec.coffee
index ff606e011..68184adf4 100644
--- a/spec/app/language-mode-spec.coffee
+++ b/spec/app/language-mode-spec.coffee
@@ -145,6 +145,17 @@ describe "LanguageMode", ->
             expect(buffer.lineForRow(0)).toBe '"ok"'
             expect(editSession.getCursorBufferPosition()).toEqual [0, 4]
 
+      describe "when there is text selected", ->
+        it "wraps the selection with brackets", ->
+          editSession.insertText 'text'
+          editSession.moveCursorToBottom()
+          editSession.selectToTop()
+          editSession.selectAll()
+          editSession.insertText '('
+          expect('(text)').toBe buffer.getText()
+          expect(editSession.getSelectedBufferRange()).toEqual [[0, 1], [0, 5]]
+          expect(editSession.getSelection().isReversed()).toBeTruthy()
+
       describe "when inserting a quote", ->
         describe "when a word character is before the cursor", ->
           it "does not automatically insert closing quote", ->
diff --git a/src/app/language-mode.coffee b/src/app/language-mode.coffee
index 4afbee747..1649fe373 100644
--- a/src/app/language-mode.coffee
+++ b/src/app/language-mode.coffee
@@ -26,6 +26,10 @@ class LanguageMode
       previousCharacter = @editSession.getTextInBufferRange([cursorBufferPosition.add([0, -1]), cursorBufferPosition])
       nextCharacter = @editSession.getTextInBufferRange([cursorBufferPosition, cursorBufferPosition.add([0,1])])
 
+      if @isOpeningBracket(text) and not @editSession.getSelection().isEmpty()
+        @wrapSelectionInBrackets(text)
+        return false
+
       hasWordAfterCursor = /\w/.test(nextCharacter)
       hasWordBeforeCursor = /\w/.test(previousCharacter)
 
@@ -61,6 +65,18 @@ class LanguageMode
           @editSession.delete()
         false
 
+  wrapSelectionInBrackets: (bracket) ->
+    pair = @pairedCharacters[bracket]
+    @editSession.mutateSelectedText (selection) =>
+      return if selection.isEmpty()
+
+      range = selection.getBufferRange()
+      options = reverse: selection.isReversed()
+      wrappedText = "#{bracket}#{selection.getText()}#{pair}"
+      selection.insertText(wrappedText)
+      newRange = [range.start.add([0, 1]), range.end.add([0, 1])]
+      selection.setBufferRange(newRange, options)
+
   reloadGrammar: ->
     path = @buffer.getPath()
     pathContents = @buffer.cachedDiskContents