Page 172 - Perfect English Grammar: The Indispensable Guide to Excellent Writing and Speaking

■ Carpenters built me a porch, which I could have done myself (if I
weren’t busy).

Square brackets are used to add something not originally in a quote. As shown

at the end of section 16.10 on quotations marks, we can use them around an
ellipsis to show we elided the text.

We can also use square brackets to restate and clarify. If, for example, you

have a quote that is not altogether clear (perhaps because the referent is in a part
of the text you will not be including), you can use brackets to replace the

pronoun with the referent. You can also add words that you know will help the
reader understand without changing the overall effect of the original writer’s

words.

■ Original: The Nobel Prize was awarded “in recognition of her

services in the advancement of chemistry by the discovery of the
elements radium and polonium.”

■ Edited: The Nobel Prize was awarded “in recognition of [Curie’s]
services in the advancement of chemistry by the discovery of the

elements radium and polonium.”

■ Original: “I told him I wouldn’t do the movie. No way.”
■ Edited: “I told [Spielberg] I wouldn’t do the movie. No way.”

■ Original: “Goldfish often develop bacterial infections.”
■ Edited: “Goldfish [kept in unclean tanks] often develop bacterial

infections.”

If parentheses or brackets appear at the end of a sentence, terminating

punctuation—period, question mark, or exclamation mark—goes outside them.

■ We left the party early (which was just as well, as the electricity went

out later).
■ Can you buy me two pounds of apples (preferably the Gala variety)?