9/8/13 Using Round and Square Brackets - Grammar Lesson on Brackets

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Using Round and Square Brackets
Round brackets () are used to insert additional
information. Square brackets [] are usually used to
make a quoted text more understandable.

Round Brackets for Additional Information
Round brackets are used to insert additional information in text. If you were to remove the
brackets and the information inside, the text would still work. For example:
Set in the 17th century, The Three Musketeers ("Les Trois Mousquetaires" in French) is a novel
by Alexandre Dumas.
Although they are relatively common off Australia, California, South Africa and Mexico, great
white sharks usually inhabit coastal waters where the water temperature ranges 12-24 degrees
Celsius. They generally hunt by detecting the electrical fields (They can detect less than one
billionth of a volt.) emitted by the movements of their prey.
Round Brackets to Denote Singular or Plural
For brevity, round brackets can be used to show that a word could be either singular or plural.
For example:
Please write the name(s) of your guest(s) in the section below.
Ensure the rod(s) is(are) aligned with the top section.
Square Brackets to Make the Text Clearer
Square brackets are used to add information that explains the text it follows. (The information is
usually added by someone other than the original author.) For example:
Hedy Lamarr once said: "Most people save all their lives and leave it [their money] to
somebody else."
"It [electricity] is really just organized lightning."
Square Brackets to Modify the Original Text
Often, square brackets are used to replace text in a quote to make the quote clearer for the
reader. For example:
Hedy Lamarr once said: "Most people save all their lives and leave [their money] to somebody
else."
Alice Cooper famously said that "from the moment [he] leave[s] [his] house or hotel room, the
public owns [him]."
Square Brackets: [sic]
The term "[sic]" is used to show that the word it follows featured in the original text. Often, "
[sic]" is used to indicate that a grammar error in the text was written by the original author. For
example:
The minister believed that his statement was "appropriate and did not undermine the moral
[sic] of our
troops."
(should be "morale" not "moral")
Your demand for a "full compliment [sic] of men" cannot be met at this time.
(should be "complement" not "compliment")
Square Brackets: [...]
Ellipsis is used to show text omitted from a quote. Ellipsis is usually written "..." or "[...]". For
example:
It's no small irony that the government [...] ends up promoting precisely that which they would
DON'T OVERUSE ROUND BRACKETS
Using lots of brackets in your writing is usually a sign of bad
sentence structure. Brackets also look a little informal in serious
correspondence. Luckily, the latter issue is easily solved. You don't
have to use brackets all the time. In fact, you have choice between
round brackets, commas and dashes. These are all called
parentheses. The information between the parentheses is called a
parenthesis.
HOW LONG CANPARENTHESIS BE?
Parenthesis is used to add additional information. As such, it is often
just a few words, but it can be a complete sentence or even a few
sentences. (If it's any longer than that, you should probably
reconsider whether it's appropriate as a parenthesis.) If your
parenthesis is a complete sentence, it should start with a capital and
end in a full stop (period ), which would be inside the
parentheses.
9/8/13 Using Round and Square Brackets - Grammar Lesson on Brackets
www.grammar-monster.com/lessons/brackets_round_and_square_brackets.htm 2/2
most like to repress.
(The ellipsis replaces "inevitably and invariably".)
Andy Warhol is the only genius...with an IQ of 60.
(The ellipsis replaces the words "I've ever known" in this Gore Vidal quote.)
See also:
Brackets, commas and dashes - a choice of parentheses
Parentheses
Parenthesis
Ellipsis
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