What do brackets around a word in a quote mean?

Question

For example: "some include movable parts and many incorporate biomorphic shapes, showing affinities with the surrealist works of . . . Joan Miró"

to make this fit with my whole essay (like the tense) would i do like "some include[d] movable parts and many incorporate[d] ...etc
Basically what i think they mean is that brackets are used to add a word to a quote or something but i dont know that's just my guess so please can anyone clear that out for me, I'd really appreciate it because I searched it already and no luck. Thanks!

Answer 1

nice question you got there. i haven't thought of that

thanks for all those who answered ^_^ very informative

Answer 2

It usually means that something was left out of the quote by the speaker but that was implied and the sentence or quote doesn't make sense without it. It's something that wasn't spoken but was crutial to the context. In otherwords, the quote was edited, but the editor is letting you know what parts were edited so you don't think it was part of the original statement.

Answer 3

Anything in square brackets is something that was not part of the original quote.

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Yes, you can use square brackets to add words or parts of words to a quote to make the quote make some sense in the context that you are using it ... as long as you don't change so much that you actually change the meaning of the original quote (if you do, then what's the point of quoting?).

Answer 4

the brackets signify an aleteration in the quote made by the author of the article. your alteration made sense, but i'm not sure it's necessary in this case to change the tense of the quote.

Answer 5

The brackets are added around letters and words to a quote whether to make it easier to understand, to fit into your paper, etc.

Answer 6

It's just a supplied word to help explain the meaning.