Why do you use [ & ]??

Question

Why do you use the [ & ] and when is it considered appropriate to use them?

I mean [ ] those things.:P Not &, as I am perfectly clear as to what that means.

'[' and ']' are what I'm asking about.

Answer 1

It's a symbol for the word "and."
Example:
This & that

Answer 2

Those would be square brackets. They are used in many occasions although mathematics would probably be the most common. eg; {[(3,5),(2,7),(1,8)],[(3,5),(2,6)]}.
Then, they are also used for some citation formats, I believe that for the MLA format used in high schools, certain citations require some information to be entered in square brackets and some in regular elliptical brackets "(". Notwithstanding, they have other uses as well. They are used for programing as well or for certain typsetting systems.
eg;
\documentclass[12pt]{article} (this is a typsetting pre-amble for LaTeX).

Also, they are used for quotational annotation. For example, if you want to restructure the quote to make it comply with the rest of your sentence.

eg; Although coöperation between Chillingworth and Hester appears to be bland, the author argues that "[it] represents a synesthæsia of interaction [between them] such that [the reader] is innundated with the depth of [their] conversations."

Also, pretend that you are quoting a document in which there are typographical errors or spellings far too archaic to be immediately recognizable to the reader. In this circumstance you would use "[sic]" beside the quoted material to say that the material is quoted verbatim and does not represent a transcription error on your part.

eg; "Although the patient has a preëxisting condition, it appears to be unrelated to the toxæmia; perplexsing [sic] as it may be, we have reason to believe it is treatable."

Answer 3

Square brackets? You use them to show text that is missing, such as "I'm going [to the game], but I'll be late." You'll see it a lot with [sic] which means the material in the quoted text was originally incorrect (usually by spelling) and that you didn't make the mistake when copying the text. An example would be "I don't like brocolli [sic]." Broccoli is spelled incorrectly, and [sic] lets the reader know that you are copying a quotation which contained an incorrectly spelled word.

Answer 4

SQUARE BRACKETS enclose explanatory or missing […] material, especially in quoted text. For example, "I appreciate it [the honor], but I must refuse". Or, "the future of psionics [see definition] is in doubt".

The bracketed expression [sic] is used to indicate errors that are "thus in the original"; a bracketed ellipsis [...] is often used to indicate deleted material; bracketed comments indicate when original text has been modified for clarity: "I'd like to thank [several unimportant people] and my parentals [sic] for their love, tolerance [...] and assistance [italics added]".

In mathematics, square brackets are used in a variety of notations, including standard notations for intervals, commutators, the Lie bracket, and the Iverson bracket.

Square brackets are also sometimes used as parentheses within parentheses (alternating between parentheses and square brackets according to nesting level [though curly braces are often used instead for deeper nesting {as mentioned earlier}]).

With the International Phonetic Alphabet, square brackets indicate a phonetic transcription (as opposed to a phonemic one).

In chemistry, square brackets can also be used to represent the concentration of a chemical substance, or to denote a complex ion.

In architecture, square brackets can be used to emphasize cool words, such as [meta living] or [cityscape]. It can also be used to make the layout generally look more cool and modern.

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That sign & is called an ampersand, also commonly called an "and sign" it is a logogram representing the conjunction "and."

The word ampersand is a corruption of the phrase "and per se and", meaning "and [the symbol which] by itself [is] and". The Scots and Scottish English name for & is epershand, derived from "et per se and" with the same meaning.

There is a common rumor that the word comes from an inventor named Linus Amper, hence 'Amper's And' [1].

Despite the symbol's declining use, it can still be useful when space is limited. The main surviving use of the ampersand is in the formal names of businesses (especially firms and partnerships, particularly law firms, architectural firms, and stockbroker firms (the names of these also nearly always omit the serial comma).

With the growth of mobile phone usage and text messaging, the ampersand is gaining new use in SMS language both as a representation for the word "and" and in rebus form, such as "b&" in place of the word "banned".

The ampersand is also often used when addressing an envelope to a couple: "Mr. & Mrs. Jones" or "John & Silvia".

The ampersand is also used for book and movie titles, such as Harry & Tonto, as well, and in some other proper names. In these cases, & is interchangeable with the word and; the distinction between them is mostly aesthetic. However, in film credits for story, screenplay, etc., & indicates a closer collaboration than and; in screenplays, for example, two authors joined with & collaborated on the script, while two authors joined with and worked on the script at different times and may not have consulted each other at all.

The phrase et cetera ("and so forth"), usually written as 'etc.' can be abbreviated &c representing the combination et + c(etera). This usage is frequently seen in writings of the 18th and 19th centuries, but is rare in modern usage.

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I hope one of these is the answer you are looking for.

Answer 5

You mean brackets? They're just like parentheses, I use them in the same manner. Also if you have too many parentheses you can alternate like "so she said this [and blach blah blah (more blahness and omg) like totally and stuff].

Answer 6

It is an informal symbol for "and." I would only use it in informal letters.

Answer 7

it's like shorthand for writing the actual word.

Answer 8

Its just short for and. I see it mostly in titles, invitations, brochures, etc...