What Does It Mean When Words Are In Brackets

Brackets

Brackets are symbols that we utilize to incorporate "extra information", or information that is not function of the main content. Brackets ever come in pairs—an "opening" bracket earlier the extra information, and a "closing" bracket after it. There are ii main types of bracket: round () and square []. British English and American English language define them differently, as you lot see below.

Round Brackets or Parentheses

British English language
( ) = round brackets or brackets

American English language
( ) = parentheses

Round brackets are basically used to add extra information to a sentence. Look at these examples:

explicate or clarify

Tony Blair (the former British prime minister) resigned from office in 2007.

indicate plural or singular

Delight leave your mobile telephone(southward) at the door.

add a personal annotate

Many people love parties (I don't).

define abbreviations
- The thing will exist decided past the IOC (International Olympic Committee).

Some grammarians believe that (whenever possible) we should use commas.
Some grammarians believe that, whenever possible, we should use commas.

Remember that the total stop, exclamation mark or question mark goes after the final bracket (unless the brackets contain a complete sentence). Wait at these examples:

My car is in the bulldoze (with the window open up).
I just had an accident with our new machine. (Sssh! My husband doesn't know still.)
The weather is wonderful. (If only it were always like this!)
The political party was fantastic (as always)!
Do y'all call back Johnny (my blood brother's friend)?
Johnny came too. (Exercise you lot remember Johnny?) We had a peachy time.

Square Brackets or Brackets

British English
[ ] = square brackets

American English language
[ ] = brackets

We typically utilize foursquare brackets when nosotros want to modify another person's words. Here, we want to make information technology clear that the modification has been made past united states, not by the original writer. For case:

to add clarification:
- The witness said: "He [the policeman] hit me."
to add information:
- The ii teams in the finals of the first FIFA Football game World Cup were both from South America [Uruguay and Argentine republic].
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[south] driving." (The original words were "I love driving.")