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Usenet Posted 22 years ago
Learning
Q: Why the [what seems to be unnecessary] use of brackets in texts?
Hello.
Sometimes I see English texts that might look something like: "...and then the actor (Mr. Smith) said..." which makes perfect sense.
And then, all of a sudden, texts may appear that might look something like: "...the director said that (Mr. Smith) instead should go outside..."
I have been told that the use of brackets in an English text is to indicate that something was missing from the original text so it was added by the editor.
However, in my second example this cannot be true. The sentence couldn't (unless the author suddenly fainted) originally have read: "...the director said that instead should go outside..."
Perhaps there is an additional use of brackets that haven't been mentioned. In the above mentioned case, I'd say brackets would also indicate a change of the original text, and not just an addition to the text.
Can anyone shed some light on this?
TIA.
Q.
Post scriptum
Please note, English is not my first language.
q.
Sometimes I see English texts that might look something like: "...and then the actor (Mr. Smith) said..." which makes perfect sense.
And then, all of a sudden, texts may appear that might look something like: "...the director said that (Mr. Smith) instead should go outside..."
I have been told that the use of brackets in an English text is to indicate that something was missing from the original text so it was added by the editor.
However, in my second example this cannot be true. The sentence couldn't (unless the author suddenly fainted) originally have read: "...the director said that instead should go outside..."
Perhaps there is an additional use of brackets that haven't been mentioned. In the above mentioned case, I'd say brackets would also indicate a change of the original text, and not just an addition to the text.
Can anyone shed some light on this?
TIA.
Q.
Post scriptum
Please note, English is not my first language.
q.
Top answer
[nq:1]Hello. and then the actor (Mr. " which makes ...
- [nq:1]Hello.
- and then the actor (Mr.
- " which makes ...
- change of the original text, and not just an addition to the text.
- [/nq] Hello, my suggestion is that in the second example the use of brackets in common when reporting where the text includes a pronoun.
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3 Answers
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[nq:1]Hello. Sometimes I see English texts that might look something like: "...and then the actor (Mr. Smith) said..." which makes ... change of the original text, and not just an addition to the text. Can anyone shed some light on this?[/nq]
Hello,
my suggestion is that in the second example the use of brackets in common when reporting where the text includes a pronoun. Clearly that is no
Hello,
my suggestion is that in the second example the use of brackets in common when reporting where the text includes a pronoun. Clearly that is no
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[nq:1]my suggestion is that in the second example the use of brackets in common when reporting where the text includes ... example should read as follows? "...the director said that he (Mr. Smith) instead should go outside..." Hope this is useful.[/nq]
Thanks for your reply. I'm late beacause I got tangled up with bug hunting on my computer.
I saw that I failed to add the little word "he"
Thanks for your reply. I'm late beacause I got tangled up with bug hunting on my computer.
I saw that I failed to add the little word "he"
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[nq:1]I saw that I failed to add the little word "he" in my example text. I have no problems with ... automatically know that "he" is supposed to mean "Mr. Smith." This use is perfectly clear, but what about other cases?[/nq]
I think this "is" the only usage that your example suggests and to clarify further what I said before; I think the use of brackets in your second example is to give speci
I think this "is" the only usage that your example suggests and to clarify further what I said before; I think the use of brackets in your second example is to give speci
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