What’s up with brackets [ ]?

Although the average person rarely uses brackets, it can be a very useful (and necessary) punctuation.

1. We use [   ] when we need to make changes to an original quote. For instance, if we were to take an original quote and add our own emphasis to it, this is how we would express it:

It is necessary to add “[emphasis added]”; otherwise, the reader might think that the italics were part of the original quotation.

2. Brackets also come in handy when we want to add a word (or words) to an original quote to make it fit better in our own sentence or to provide additional information.

3. One of the most common uses of brackets is to point out an error that is contained in the original quotation:

Without [sic], the reader would assume that the silly mistake was the writer’s, not the original quote’s. (For more on [sic], click on this link.)

4. Lastly, if we want to put parentheses inside parentheses, we use [   ] instead of (   ):