I have noticed in newspapers and books I use for studying in a sentence or paragraph [ ] will be around certain words or sometimes just a letter at the start of the word. What is the point of these punctuation marks as whether they are there or not the sentence still makes sense.
2007-02-12 21:19:05 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
usually extra words or letters not in the original quotation but added to clarify the meaning
2007-02-14 01:24:03 · answer #1 · answered by Cheryl P 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They are used when quoting from other sources. The [ ] means that a letter / word or phrase has been changed for grammatical reasons, or for brevity.
i.e.
North Korea has agreed to take the first steps towards nuclear disarmament as part of a deal reached during lengthy talks in Beijing.
I could quote this in the following way:
North Korea government is not as stupid as it seems. As the BBC reported today '[they have] agreed to take the first steps...'
2007-02-12 21:34:04 · answer #2 · answered by Stu 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They are called brackets [ ] as opposed to parentheses ( ):
Both are used as an alternative to commas to mark the inclusion of a grammatical unit in the middle or at the end of a sentence.
e.g.People like to go out of an evening[especially Saturday nights] to socialise.
2007-02-12 21:29:25 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
They are known as brackets and are used to convey some extra information without altering the original context of the sentence. At the beginning of a word the extra letter in brackets generally denotes an alternative spelling.
2007-02-12 21:26:54 · answer #4 · answered by freddiem 5 · 2⤊ 2⤋
[ ] are often used to include extra words into a quotation to clarify and ensure that the meaning is not interpreted out of context.
"When I went to the store yesterday, they [other customers] were very rude" which without the addition could imply my quote was meant against the store staff.
2007-02-12 21:29:58 · answer #5 · answered by kinvadave 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
[ ] are an example of what are called parenthesis. They are used to compartmentalise a fact, comment or idea that is connected to the main thrust of the sentence which contains them. There are other types - commas, semi-colons to name but two.
For instance they are often used to explain abbreviations which are to be used later in the text:-
"The Royal Geographical Society [RGS] is responsible for the . . . . ."
2007-02-12 21:26:59 · answer #6 · answered by BARROWMAN 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Those brackets [ ] are used to put the omitted words by mistake of the author. For example....... One love in young life, took me never been...... So, the right words would appear in this manner......... One love in [my] young life, took me [somewhere I have] never been.
I hope you understand my explanation. Have a nice day and HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!!!
2007-02-12 21:32:29 · answer #7 · answered by Mahal 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I calls 'em brackets. Some people calls 'em parentheses. I've heard 'em refered to as 'stops' as well. They seem to have many, many uses; primary among them are 'to enclose editorial interpolations, corrections, explanations, or comments in quoted material.' You can use them inside parentheses: ( [ ] ). To enclose phonetic transcription... [to be continued... ]
2007-02-13 04:54:48 · answer #8 · answered by madchriscross 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the words within the [] were added or changed by the editor.
2007-02-13 00:32:17 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋