Grammar. What the hell does this mean.?

Question

When someone is quoted, the sentence has quotation marks around it. And sometines, in a quote, there are perenthesis with words in it. I always thought that it was to explain to the audience what was going on, because the way the speaker said it, it wouldnt make sense to the audience. For example

If a reporter asked asked MIchael Jordan how he felt about Phil Jackson, it would read. "(Phil Jackson) is a great guy," says Jordan. The writer fills in (Phil Jackson). because the reader wouldn't know who he is talking about if it read "He is a great guy." Am i correct?

Then what the hell does a sentance like this mean?

"Some of (the world's richest) just have to have the best."

Does that mean that the person quoted said "Some of just have to have the best. That doesn't make sense.



"Some of (the world's richest) just have to have the best."

I guess this isn't the best example, (the world's richest) could have been substituted for "them." But I know I have seen quotes that use parenthesis that just dont make sense.

Answer 1

Yes, you are correct. This is just to specify the subject when a quote was taken in context.

Answer 2

Actually, in the US at least, you're supposed to use brackets [ ] to indicate that you have made a substitution in a quotation, not parentheses. It's to alert the reader to the fact that not all of this is a direct quote, but if they didn't make some changes, you wouldn't understand what they were saying, just as you describe. You need the larger context of what was being said to know what the pronouns (or whatever) referred to, and sometimes it's more than a single word or two -- sometimes it's a whole idea that the writer then has to try to summarize in a phrase or word. That should alert you to the possibility that the writer may not have got the intent of the speaker right -- after all, the person might in fact have been talking about someone or something else than what the writer assumed. That's why (in academic works) they footnote the quotation, so diligent people can go look up the original work and see for themselves what was said and in what context. Of course, newspapers and magazines don't footnote quotations, so you just have to take the writer's word for it.

Answer 3

The name or words in parenthesis were not actually stated by the speaker, but inferred or were used in a statement prior to or immediately after the quoted statement and those words weren't referenced. It is done so that the reader is aware of whom or what the quote is about.

Your first example: The speaker probably had been discussing Phil Jackson. He then may have said,"He's a great guy." or perhaps he was asked,"what do you think of Phil Jackson?" and he simply replied,...a great guy!"

Your second example: There may have been a prior sentence or paragraph discussing rich people. The quote was then taken our of context, so needed some clarification for the reader to understand. It wouldn't have been enough to say "Some of them just have to have the best." Who is "them?"

Hope that helps.

Answer 4

No, the person quoted probably said something like,

"Some of them just have to have the best," with "them" meaning "the world's richest."

Or

"Some of those loaded !@#$%% just have to have the best."

Or whatever.

You can replace words in a quote with your own words whenever you want, as long as your new words have *the same meaning* as the words you replaced. As you said, this technique is normally used to clarify something that would be unclear if the original words were used. (Sometimes this technique might be used if the original quote contained something rude or inappropriate, like in the second example.)

Answer 5

the quotes are taken from a discussion. in a discussion you don't always say Phil Jackson, you would say "he" or "him".

if you are only using a small portion of the interview or discussion, you would have to replace the "he" or general word used so that readers would know what is going on.

The parenthesess are used so as not to ruin the purpose of the quote. If you start changing peoples words, it isn't a quote anymore.
so the word is put in parenthese so you know it was corrected for the benefit of the reader.

Answer 6

When people [talk] we sometimes leave things out. But if you hear what we're talking about, you eventually know what we [meant] to say from the context. However someone just reading one small part of what we [said] needs additional words for it to make sense.

Also we may use [old] language or [slang] and that has to be [replaced].

You really should use square brackets - [ ] - if adding words to clarify though, parentheses - ( ) - are properly used for less important information, (not added information).

However, journalists aren't always grammatically correct (being politically correct is hard enough).

Answer 7

Well............. as I thought, you are right and you're listed example is up the proverbial !!! I checked in the Webster's reference library, the concise edition for Spelling Grammar & Usage. In the section for brackets, page 218, it says:-

The information so enclosed is called parenthesis and the pair of brackets enclosing it can be known as parentheses. The information that is enclosed in the brackets is purely supplementary or explanatory in nature and could be removed without changing the overall basis meaning or grammatical completeness of the statement. Brackets, like commas and dashes, interrupt the flow of the main statement but brackets indicate a more definite or clear-cut interruption. The fact that they are more visually obvious emphasizes this".

Clearly, whoever wrote your example is grammatically challenged. :)


***


After reading some of your other inciteful answers, I agree that they probably should be saying "them". Fact is, grammatically speaking, it is incorrect. Being the ever changing peeps we are, it's probably yet to make it's debut with Webster's, Oxford's, whoever's making grammatical reference material at the time.



PEACE & LOVE & ALL THAT





******


Brackets and parentheses are one and the same!!!


***************

Answer 8

I think it's because the person they quoted didn't say it in those exact terms. Like the last sentence:
"Some of (the world's richest) just have to have the best."

When actually the person said:

"Some of them just have to have the best."

Just a way of putting things down so the person reading can understand what is being written.

I think. lol

Answer 9

The semitic all and sundry is the two the Jews and the Arabs at the same time as we are in no place to flow with anothers salvation. Having hate on your heart is a touch solid sign that God isn't there.

Answer 10

This means that the one who is quoting what someone said wants to use that person's exact words, but the listener may not understand if the quoter doesn't use those extra words. So that the quoter doesn't quote what the speaker said exactly, he/she uses brackets.