If a direct quote includes words or a phrase in another language other than the one in the main text, then you use brackets to provide a translation. On section 3. You might have seen the term [ sic ] in a quotation before, and this is used to indicate an error.
Note that the word sic should always be italicized, but the brackets should remain formatted as normal. If you change the format of a quote to include bolded or italicized text in order to add emphasis, then you would indicate so in square brackets, like this:. If you need to quote something in formal writing and it would be considered unacceptable to add in foul language, then you can use the quote and insert brackets to omit the censored word.
On some rare occasions, you might find that you need to use both parentheses and brackets in a single sentence or a quoted piece of text.
There are a few ways you can do this. He wrote about his love for punctuation extensively in his book Semicolons: A Love Affair []. In this case, you can format it like this:. DO use brackets when altering or inserting words.
DO use brackets when adding an explanation in a quote. DO put sic in brackets when pointing out an error in a quote. DO use brackets when changing a letter case or verb tense within a quote. By now, you should have a better idea of when to use brackets in quotes and in your writing.
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Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. What do brackets in a quote mean? Asked 9 years, 5 months ago. Active 8 years, 7 months ago. Viewed 68k times. Improve this question. Community Bot 1. Matthew Blanchard Matthew Blanchard 1 1 gold badge 2 2 silver badges 3 3 bronze badges. Besides What is the proper use of square brackets in quotes , see How do you punctuate something you paraphrased , and How to add contextualizing text to a quotation , — James Waldby - jwpat7.
Add a comment. Use parentheses for translations of unquoted material. In most contexts, it is acceptable to silently change the first letter of quoted material from uppercase to lowercase, or vice versa.
In certain contexts, such changes must be indicated with brackets. Without the sic , a reader might wonder if the error was made by the writer offering the quotation. Note that sic , as a foreign term, should be italicized, but the brackets containing it should not.
The mayor said, "John is my choice for treasurer" may not be clear if John has not been identified or if more than one John has been mentioned. The mayor said, "John [Smith] is my choice for treasurer" uses brackets to give the surname without misquoting the mayor. The mayor said, "He is my choice for treasurer" can be clarified by replacing the pronoun with the bracketed name: The mayor said, "[John Smith] is my choice for treasurer.
The mayor said, "Smith [who is now out on bail] may not seem the obvious choice" uses brackets to supply material that may not be essential to clarify what the mayor said but that the writer thinks readers will find relevant. Smith said, "I base my oratorical style on that of Pliny the Elder [actually, Pliny the Younger; the elder Pliny was a naturalist] and expect to overwhelm the electorate with my eloquence" uses brackets to enclose a correction. This type of bracketed correction seems snide and often is snide—which is all right when writers are being frankly derisive.
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