[ ] square brackets, closed brackets, hard brackets, or brackets (US Square brackets [ ] [edit] Square brackets also called

ed simply brackets (US) are mainly used to insert explanatory material or to material by someone other than the original author, or to mark modifications in quotations.[7] A bracketed ellipsis [] is often used to indicate omitted material: "I'd like to thank [several unimportant people] for their tolerance..."[8] Bracketed comments inserted into a quote indicate when the original has been modified for clarity: "I appreciate it [the honor], but I must refuse", and "the future of psionics [see definition] is in doubt". Or one can quote the original statement "I hate to do laundry" with a modification inserted in the middle of it: He "hate[s] to do laundry". Additionally, a small letter can be replaced by a capital one, when the beginning of the original text is omitted for succinctness, for example, when referring to a verbose original: "To the extent that policymakers and elite opinion in general have made use of economic analysis at all, they have, as the saying goes, done so the way a drunkard uses a lamppost: for support, not illumination", it can be quoted succinctly as: "[P]olicymakers () made use of economic analysis () the way a drunkard uses a lamppost: for support, not illumination." When nested parentheses are needed, brackets are used as a substitute for the inner pair of parentheses within the outer pair.[9] When deeper levels of nesting are needed, convention is to alternate between parentheses and brackets at each level. Alternatively, empty square brackets can also indicate omitted material, usually single letter only. The original "Reading is also a process and it also changes you." can be rewritten in a quote as: It has been suggested that reading can "also change[] you". The bracketed expression [sic] is used after a quote or reprinted text to indicate the passage appears exactly as in the original source. In translated works, brackets are used to signify the same word or phrase in the original language to avoid ambiguity.[10] For example: He is trained in the way of the open hand [karate]. In linguistics, phonetic transcriptions are generally enclosed within brackets,[11] often using the International Phonetic Alphabet, whereas phonemic transcriptions typically use paired slashes. Pipes (| |) are often used to indicate a morphophonemic rather than phonemic representation. Other conventions are double slashes (// //), double pipes (|| ||) and curly brackets ({ }). Brackets (called move-left symbols or move right symbols) are added to the sides of text in proofreading to indicate changes in indentation:Move left [To Fate I sue, of other means bereft, the only refuge for the wretched left. Center ]Paradise Lost[ Move up

Brackets are used to denote parts of the text that need to be checked when preparing drafts prior to finalizing a document. They often denote points that have not yet been agreed to in legal drafts and the year in which a report was made for certain case law decisions. Brackets are used in mathematics in a variety of notations, including standard notations for intervals, commutators, the floor function, the Lie bracket, the Iverson bracket, and matrices. Brackets can also be used in chemistry to represent the concentration of a chemical substance or to denote distributed charge in a complex ion.

Brackets are used in many computer programming languages, especially those derived or inspired by the C language, to indicate array indexing operators. In this context, the opening bracket is often pronounced as "sub", indicating a subscript. Square brackets Square brackets are mainly used to enclose words added by someone other than the original writer or speaker, typically in order to clarify the situation: He [the police officer] cant prove they did it. If round or square brackets are used at the end of a sentence, the full stop should be placed outside the closing bracket: They eventually decided to settle in the United States (Debbie's home). Square brackets ( [ ] ) Square brackets have important usage in academic writing, especially when the writer needs to add information to a quotation. Normally, a quotation must be presented exactly as it was spoken or written. The square bracket allows the writer an opportunity to fix mistakes, add explanatory information, change a quote to fit in a sentence, or add emphasis to a word through bold or italics. Similar to the parentheses, the information in the bracket cannot alter the meaning of the quoted material. Example of square bracket use in grammar: Books used [in classes] show methods of finding information but not much information in preparation of the review [italics added] (Libutti & Kopala, 1995, p. 15). In this example, the words in classes do not appear in the original quotation but the writer wanted to add this information to make the sentence read more clearly. To add emphasis a set of words, italics were added by the writer that were not there in the original quote. Square Brackets or Brackets

We typically use square brackets when we want to modify another person's words. Here, we want to make it clear that the modification has been made by us, not by the original writer. For example: British English [] = square brackets American English [] = brackets to add clarification: The witness said: "He [the policeman] hit me." to add information: The two teams in the finals of the first FIFA Football World Cup were both from South America [Uruguay and Argentina]. to add missing words: It is [a] good question.

to add editorial or authorial comment: They will not be present [my emphasis]. to modify a direct quotation: He "love[s] driving." (The original words were "I love driving.") We also sometimes use square brackets for nesting, for example: Square brackets can also be nested (using square brackets [like these] inside round brackets).

Virgule The virgule punctuation mark, sometimes called a slash or a forward slash, has a few standard uses in English, plus many other common uses that arent considered standard by English grammar authorities. The established uses of virgules include the following: Theyre used in web addresses and file paths (e.g., http://grammarist.com, c:/Program Files/Google Chrome/Chrome.exe). They separate lines of poetry quoted without line breaks (e.g., Glory be to God for dappled things / For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow; / For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim ). A virgule separates the numerator and the denominator in a fraction (e.g., ). But the virgule appears in many additional, informal uses, including the following: Its often used to mean perfor example, 99 miles/hour. Its often used to mean and/or (as in and/or itself)for example, our Federal Highway Administration hosted forums in Denver, Phoenix, Louisville/New Albany, Hartford and Brooklyn/Queens (Frost Illustrated) Its sometimes used to indicate a dichotomy or a vague disjunction between two thingsfor example, Its appeal cuts across the usual liberal/conservative line. (Patriot Post) An en-dash would be conventional in these cases, but people love using the virgule this way, so we should probably accept it.

Using the Virgule The virgule has four specific uses in punctuation. 1) To separate parts of an extended date. Example: The 1994/95 basketball season. The 1914/18 War. 2) To represent the word per in measurements: Example: 186,000 mi./sec. (miles per second) 3) To stand for the word or in the expression and/or. (Though not considered standard, it can sometimes stand for the word or in other expressions.) Example: Using the pass/fail option backfired on her; she could have scored an A. The slash here can be translated as or, and should not be used where the word or could not be used in its place. To avoid gender problems with pronouns, some writers use he/she, his/her, and him/her, but this always looks clumsy to me. Others prefer either to pluralize when possible and appropriate (to they, their, them) or to use he or she, etc. instead. Notice there is no space between the slash and the letters on either side of it. 4) To separate lines of poetry that are quoted in a run-on fashion in the text. This way of quoting poetry is limited to four or five lines of verse, within the normal flow of text. Note that there should be a following space when the slash is used to indicate a line-break in quoted poetry: Example: "And up and down the people go,/ Gazing where the lilies blow/ Round an island there below,/ The island of Shalott." "The woods are lovely, dark, and deep/ but I have promises to keep." When using slashes in a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) for a World Wide Web address (http://www.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/), be sure not to include spaces and in particular do not confuse the slash with its backward cousin, \, which is used as a path separator in Windows (for example, c:\program files\Adobe).

Use quotation marks [ ] to set off material that represents quoted or spoken language. Quotation marks also set off the titles of things that do not normally stand by themselves: short stories, poems, and articles. Usually, a quotation is set off from the rest of the sentence by a comma; however, the typography of quoted material can become quite complicated. Here is one simple rule to remember: In the United States, periods and commas go inside quotation marks regardless of logic. Click HERE for an explanation (sort of). In the United Kingdom, Canada, and islands under the influence of British education, punctuation around quotation marks is more apt to follow logic. In American style, then, you would write: My favorite poem is Robert Frost's "Design." But in England you would write: My favorite poem is Robert Frost's "Design". The placement of marks other than periods and commas follows the logic that quotation marks should accompany (be right next to) the text being quoted or set apart as a title. Thus, you would write (on either side of the Atlantic): What do you think of Robert Frost's "Design"? and I love "Design"; however, my favorite poem was written by Emily Dickinson. Further, punctuation around quoted speech or phrases depends on how it fits into the rest of your text. If a quoted word or phrase fits into the flow of your sentence without a break or pause, then a comma may not be necessary: The phrase "lovely, dark and deep" begins to suggest ominous overtones. Following a form of to say, however, you'll almost always need a comma: My father always said, "Be careful what you wish for." If the quoted speech follows an independent clause yet could be part of the same sentence, use a colon to set off the quoted language: My mother's favorite quote was from Shakespeare: "This above all, to thine own self be true." When an attribution of speech comes in the middle of quoted language, set it apart as you would any parenthetical element: "I don't care," she said, "what you think about it." Be careful, though, to begin a new sentence after the attribution if sense calls for it: "I don't care," she said. "What do you think?" Convention normally insists that a new paragraph begins with each change of speaker: "I don't care what you think anymore," she said, jauntily tossing back her hair and looking askance at Edward. "What do you mean?" he replied. "What do you mean, 'What do I mean?'" Alberta sniffed. She was becoming impatient and wished that she were elsewhere. "You know darn well what I mean!" Edward huffed. "Have it your way," Alberta added, "if that's how you feel." In proofreading and editing your writing, remember that quotation marks always travel in pairs! Well, almost always. When quoted dialogue carries from one paragraph to another (and to another and another), the closing quotation mark does not appear until the quoted language finally ends (although there is a beginning quotation mark at the start of each new quoted paragraph to remind the reader that this is quoted language). Also, in parenthetical documentation (see the Guide to Writing Research Papers), the period comes after the parenthetical citation which comes after the quotation mark" (Darling 553).

In reporting "silent speech"noting that language is "said," but internally and not spoken out loudwriters are on their own. Writers can put quotation marks around it or not: Oh, what a beautiful morning, Curly said to himself. "Oh, what a beautiful morning!" Curly said to himself.

Quotation Marks Rule 1 Periods and commas always go inside quotation marks, even inside single quotes. Examples: The sign changed from "Walk," to "Don't Walk," to "Walk" again within 30 seconds. She said, "Hurry up." She said, "He said, 'Hurry up.'" Rule 2 The placement of question marks with quotes follows logic. If a question is in quotation marks, the question mark should be placed inside the quotation marks. Examples: She asked, "Will you still be my friend?" Do you agree with the saying, "All's fair in love and war"? Here the question is outside the quote. NOTE: Only one ending punctuation mark is used with quotation marks. Also, the stronger punctuation mark wins. Therefore, no period after war is used. Rule 3 When you have a question outside quoted material AND inside quoted material, use only one question mark and place it inside the quotation mark. Example: Did she say, "May I go?" Rule 4 Use single quotation marks for quotes within quotes. Note that the period goes inside all quote marks. Example: He said, "Danea said, 'Do not treat me that way.'" Rule 5 Use quotation marks to set off a direct quotation only. Examples: "When will you be here?" he asked. He asked when you will be there. Rule 6 Do not use quotation marks with quoted material that is more than three lines in length. See Colons, Rule 5, for style guidance with longer quotes. Rule 7

When you are quoting something that has a spelling or grammar mistake or presents material in a confusing way, insert the term sic in italics and enclose it in brackets. Sic means, "This is the way the original material was." Example: She wrote, "I would rather die then [sic] be seen wearing the same outfit as my sister." Should be than, not then.