Square brackets [] are usually used to make a quoted text more understandable.Square Brackets to Make the Text Clearer

Square brackets are used to add information that explains the text it follows. (The information is usually added by someone other than the original author.) For example:

Hedy Lamarr once said: "Most people save all their lives and leave it [their money] to somebody else."

"It [electricity] is really just organized lightning."

Square Brackets to Modify the Original Text

Often, square brackets are used to replace text in a quote to make the quote clearer for the reader. For example:

Hedy Lamarr once said: "Most people save all their lives and leave [their money] to somebody else."

Alice Cooper famously said that "from the moment [he] leave[s] [his] house or hotel room, the public owns [him]."

Square Brackets: [sic]

The term "[sic]" is used to show that the word it follows featured in the original text. Often, "[sic]" is used to indicate that a grammar error in the text was written by the original author. For example:

The minister believed that his statement was "appropriate and did not undermine the moral [sic] of our

troops."(should be "morale" not "moral")

Your demand for a "full compliment [sic] of men" cannot be met at this time.(should be "complement" not "compliment")

Square Brackets: [...]

Ellipsis is used to show text omitted from a quote. Ellipsis is usually written "..." or "[...]". For example:

It's no small irony that the government [...] ends up promoting precisely that which they would most like to repress.(The ellipsis replaces "inevitably and invariably".)

Andy Warhol is the only genius...with an IQ of 60.(The ellipsis replaces the words "I've ever known" in this Gore Vidal quote.)Read more athttp://www.grammar-monster.com/lessons/brackets_round_and_square_brackets.htm#WJ2Lv19AcpyHubsk.99

Square Brackets or BracketsWe 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

1.to add clarification:o The witness said: "He [the policeman] hit

me." 

2.to add information:o The two teams in the finals of the first

FIFA Football World Cup were both from South America [Uruguay and Argentina]. 

3.to add missing words:o It is [a] good question.

4.to add editorial or authorial comment:o They will not be present [my emphasis].

5.to modify a direct quotation:o 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).

QUOTATION MARKS

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:

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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 loud—writers 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.

Some writers will set such unspoken language in italics or indent it in order to set it off

from other "regular" language. That's probably not a good idea if there is a lot of it because the

indents can be confusing and italics can become tiresome to read after a while. The decision will

probably depend on the amount of silent speech within the text. Probably the best way to handle

silent speech is to find an author whom you like who does a lot of this—Graham Swift in his

novel Last Orders, for instance—and copy that author's style. Consistency, of course, is very

important.

Some interesting things can happen with verb tenses when we report action in indirect or reported speech ("The president said that he was going to Egypt tomorrow"). For help with this issue, we would refer to you Professor Mary Nell Sorensen's Web site at the University of Washington.

Be careful not to use quotation marks in an attempt to emphasize a word (the kind of

thing you see in grocery store windows—Big "Sale" Today!). Underline or italicize that word

instead. (The quotation marks will suggest to some people that you are using that word in a

special orpeculiar way and that you really mean something else—or that your sale is entirely

bogus.)

The American Medical Association Manual of Style (9th ed, 1998) calls misused

quotation marks like this Apologetic Quotation Marksand says:

Quotation marks used around words to give special effect or to indicate irony are usually

unnecessary. When irony or special effect is intended, skillful preparation can take the place of

using these quotes. Resort to apologetic quotation marks or quotation marks used to express

irony only after such attempts have failed, keeping in mind that the best writing does not rely on

apologetic quotation marks. (p 220)

Refer to Capital's Guide for Writing Research Papers and, especially, the English

faculty's Suggestions for Writing Papers for Literature Courses for further help in handling

quotations.

We do not enclose indirect quotations in quotation marks. An indirect quotation reports

what someone says but not in the exact, original language. Indirect quotations are not heard in

the same way that quoted language is heard.

The President said that NAFTA would eventually be a boon to small businesses in both

countries.

Professor Villa told her students the textbooks were not yet in the bookstore.

Double Punctuation with Quotations

Occasionally — very occasionally, we hope — we come across a sentence that seems to

demand one kind of punctuation mark within quotation marks and another kind of punctuation

mark outside the quotation marks. A kind of pecking order of punctuation marks takes over:

other marks are stronger than a period and an exclamation mark is usually stronger than a

question mark. If a statement ends in a quoted question, allow the question mark within the

quotation marks suffice to end the sentence.

Malcolm X had the courage to ask the younger generation of American blacks, "What

did we do, who preceded you?"

On the other hand, if a question ends with a quoted statement that is not a question, the question

mark will go outside the closing quotation mark.

Who said, "Fame means when your computer modem is broken, the repair guy comes

out to your house a little faster"?

If a question ends with a quotation containing an exclamation mark, the exclamation mark will

supersede the question and suffice to end the sentence.

Wasn't it Malcolm X who declared, "Why, that's the most hypocritical government

since the world began!"

A single question mark will suffice to end a quoted question within a question:

"Didn't he ask, 'What did we do, who preceded you?'" queried Johnson.

Authority for this section: New York Public Library Writer's Guide to Style and Usage HarperCollins: New York. 1994.

277. Cited with permission, examples our own.

Single Quotation Marks

In the United States, we use single quotation marks [ ‘  ’ ] to enclose quoted material

(or the titles of poems, stories, articles) within other quoted material:

"'Design' is my favorite poem," he said.

"Did she ask, 'What's going on?'"

Ralph Ellison recalls the Golden Age of Jazz this way: "It was itself a texture of

fragments, repetitive, nervous, not fully formed; its melodic lines underground, secret

and taunting; its riffs jeering—'Salt peanuts! Salt peanuts!'"

British practice, again, is quite different. In fact, single-quote marks and double-quote

marks are apt to be reversed in usage. Instructors in the U.S. should probably take this into

account when reading papers submitted by students who have gone to school in other parts of the

globe.

In newspapers, single quotation marks are used in headlines where double quotation

marks would otherwise appear.

Congress Cries 'Shame!'

In some fields, key terms may be set apart with single-quote marks. In such cases,

periods and commas go outside the single-quote marks:

Sartre's treatment of 'being', as opposed to his treatment of 'non-being', has been

thoroughly described in Kaufmann's book.

When the term is case-sensitive, capitalization remains unchanged despite placement in

the sentence.

'tx_send' determines whether the signal will be output through TX Output Port.

If the constant REG_RESET is set, then resets will be registered.

Quizzes on Punctuation Marks

period || question mark || exclamation mark || colon || semicolon || hyphen || dash parentheses || brackets || ellipsis || apostrophe || comma || slash

*There are peculiar typographical reasons why the period and comma go inside the

quotation mark in the United States. The following explanation comes from the "Frequently

Asked Questions" file of alt.english.usage: "In the days when printing used raised bits of metal,

"." and "," were the most delicate, and were in danger of damage (the face of the piece of type

might break off from the body, or be bent or dented from above) if they had a '"' on one side and

a blank space on the other. Hence the convention arose of always using '."' and ',"' rather than '".'

and '",', regardless of logic." This seems to be an argument to return to something more logical,

but there is little impetus to do so within the United States.

THE SLASH

OR VIRGULE

A SLASH OR SLANT OR SOLIDUS OR VIRGULE [ / ] (TAKE YOUR PICK OF NAMES) IS USED

TO INDICATE A CHOICE BETWEEN THE WORDS IT SEPARATES.

Using the pass/fail option backfired on her; she could've gotten an A.

The slash 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. Many authorities despise that construction and urge writers 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.

There is, however, a space when the slash is used to indicate a line-break in quoted

poetry: "The woods are lovely, dark, and deep / but I have promises to keep." (This way of

quoting poetry is limited to four or five lines of verse, within the normal flow of text.)

When using slashes in a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) for a World Wide Web

address (http://www.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/), be especially sure not to include spaces and

not to confuse the slash with its backward cousin, \, used as a path separator in Windows (for

example, c:\program files\Adobe).

Select from the follow ing

THE BRACKET

Use brackets [ [ ] ] in the following situations:

You can use them to include explanatory words or phrases within quoted language:

Lew Perkins, the Director of Athletic Programs, said that Pumita Espinoza, the new soccer

coach [at Notre Dame Academy] is going to be a real winner.

If you are quoting material and you've had to change the capitalization of a word or

change a pronoun to make the material fit into your sentence, enclose that changed letter or

word(s) within brackets:

Espinoza charged her former employer with "falsification of [her] coaching record."

See the description of the ellipsis for information on using brackets to set off an ellipsis

that you have used to indicate omitted language in a quotation.

Also within quotations, you could enclose [sic] within brackets (we italicize but never

underline the word sic and we do not italicize the brackets themselves) to show that misspelled

words or inappropriately used words are not your own typos or blunders but are part of an

accurately rendered quotation:

Reporters found three mispelings [sic] in the report.

(It is bad manners, however, to use this device to show that another writer is a lousy speller or

otherwise unlettered. Also, use it only when it is important to maintain the original spelling for

Select from the follow ing

some reason. If you can edit (remove) the error without violating some scholarly or ethical

principle, do so.) Note, also, that the word sic means "thus" or "that's how it was" and is not an

abbreviation; thus, no period.

If you have italicized or underlined words within quoted language that was not italicized

or underlined in the original, you can note that change in brackets included within the sentence

or paragraph:

It was the atmosphere of the gym that thrilled Jacobs, not the eight championship banners

hanging from the beams [italics added].

("Italics mine" or "emphasis added" would be other acceptable phrases.)

You can use brackets to include parenthetical material inside parenthetical material:

Chernwell was poet laureate of Bermuda (a largely honorary position [unpaid]) for ten years.

Be kind to your reader, however, and use this device sparingly.

Do you know Billy Collins's poem On Turning Ten she asked.

"Do you know Billy Collins's poem 'On Turning Ten'?" she asked.

Of all the poems in his latest book she said this is my favorite. It's really very funny she added

"Of all the poems in his latest book," she said, "this is my favorite. It's really very funny," she added.

Turning towards her brother, she cried Help There were tears in her eyes and clearly she was anxious about something.

What's the matter he asked.

I can't find our little sister she answered.

Turning towards her brother, she cried, "Help!" There were tears in her eyes and clearly she was anxious about something.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"I can't find our little sister," she answered.

In Collins's poem, the line If you cut me I would shine suggests a child's belief in his own immortality.

In Collins's poem, the line "If you cut me I would shine" suggests a child's belief in his own immortality.

Collins recalls Shelley's Ode to a Nightingale in his final two lines But now when I fall upon the sidewalks of life, / I skin my knees. I bleed

Collins recalls Shelley's "Ode to a Nightingale" in his final two lines: "But now when I fall upon the sidewalks of life, / I skin my knees. I bleed."

In his article Building a Better Vocabulary Darling suggests making vocabulary development a personal mission in life.

In his article "Building a Better Vocabulary," Darling suggests making vocabulary development a personal mission in life.

Toan's English professor asked him what was wrong.

This is an indirect quotation and no quotation marks are necessary.

So what else is new Raoul asked have you begun your studies in radiology yet

"So what else is new?" Raoul asked. "Have you begun your studies in radiology yet?"

What is the main idea in Louise Erdrich's poem Dear John Wayne asked Professor Christie.

"What is the main idea in Louise Erdrich's poem 'Dear John Wayne'?" asked Professor Christie.

Who said To be or not to be, that is the question asked Professor Villa.

"Who said, 'To be or not to be, that is the question'?" asked Professor Villa.

Et cetera (etc.)Et cetera, usually abbreviated etc., comes from the Latin et, meaning and, and cetera, meaningthe rest. So et cetera literally means and the rest.

Overuse

 Etc. is best reserved for times when (a) there is no question of what’s being omitted, or (b) when listing every item in a large group would be unnecessary. In this example, there’s no mystery about what etc. indicates:

All non-human primates—monkeys, gorillas, chimpanzees, etc.—exhibit some form of tool use.

And in this example, the author uses etc. because including a fuller list would be unnecessary:

For 99 cents, users can punch in their current mood (sad, tempted, worried, etc.). [Dallas News]

When the reader can’t know what’s being omitted and it’s not clear that there are more items in the list, etc. may signal laziness or

dishonesty. In lazy moments, some writers use etc. when they know of only one or two examples but want to create the impression that there are more. Any engaged reader can see through this trick. Here are a few examples:

Cool “student search” home pages could welcome China’s students with identifiable inspirational figures, like animated cartoons, etc., that are of cultural Chinese importance. [Record Eagle]

Coaches lie all the time, and, as you see with Pete Carroll, Lane Kiffin, etc., can you really blame kids for changing their minds? [Courant]

First, I find out what motivates a particular dog. Some dogs like food, others toys, etc. [CBS News]

In each of these cases, it is not clear what etc. refers to, and we can’t simply assume that there are more examples than those the writer lists.

And etc.

Because et means and, the phrase and et cetera is redundant.

Etc. vs. et al

Et cetera refers to things. Et al. refers to people.

Etc. punctuation

Treat etc. as you would the phrase and the rest. When it comes at the end of a list, put a comma before it if you use the serial comma and don’t if you don’t use the serial comma. (We won’t get into the serial comma issue here.) When it’s in the middle of the sentence, it doesn’t need to be followed by a comma.

Etc. and for example

With a list introduced by for example or an equivalent phrase, there’s no need to use etc., because for example already implies that there are other examples that could be listed.

http://grammarist.com/usage/et-cetera-etc/

 etc. (and so on)

Example:"None of my own experiences ever finds its way into my work. However, the stages of my life--motherhood, middle age, etc.--often influence my subject matter."(Anne Tyler)

What etc. stands for in Latin: et cetera

What etc. means in English: and other things

How etc. is punctuated: with a period at the end

How etc. is used: in informal or technical writing, to suggest

the logical continuation of a list of things (not, as a general

rule, of people)

How etc. should not be used: (1) after and; (2) as a synonym

for e.g. or et al.; (3) in reference to people; (4) vaguely to

refer to "other things" that are not at all clear to the reader.

How etc. can be avoided: specify all of the items in a list or

use "and so on."

http://grammar.about.com/od/words/a/latinabbrev.htm

Quotation Marks

Rule 1Periods 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 2The 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?"

More Punctuation Rules:

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 3When 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 4Use 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 5Use 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 6Do 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 7When 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. Sicmeans, "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.