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What is the proper use of [square brackets] in quotes?

This question is born of practical necessity - one that I encountered while quoting a reference in "another" Stack Exchange property's "comment field". Due to space limitations, I had wanted to "paraphrase" the following line..

This is why Git will only let you checkout another branch if everything is checked in – there are no uncommitted modified files.

with

This is why all changes must be committed before switching branches.

This did allow my post fit nicely - into the properly dignified amount of allowed characters - but left me with only two spaces to spare. With those two, I reluctantly surrounded my mini-edit in ( ) (parenthesis). This is fine, and all... but as the change was mid-quote, and mid-paragraph, there was no obvious way to clarify that this parenthetical portion was NOT as the credited author had intended - but was instead MY little handiwork.

A quick glance about found a dearth of good suggestions on how best to propery attribute - or even indicate - occurances of such paraphrasing, short of some kind of annotated bibliography, etc. What is the correct way to do this (syntactically, via a symbol, or with punctuation, etc.), especially in the context of modern / informal / electronic communications?

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alex gray
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    Square brackets: [ ], if the paraphrase occurs within a passage identified as a quotation. You may make assurance doubly sure with your initials, thus: "To be, or [an alternative - ag], that is the question." – StoneyB on hiatus Oct 24 '12 at 21:23
  • I like it! Post as an answer, cause it sure smells right to me - lest some fancy-pants comes along and schools us both... – alex gray Oct 24 '12 at 21:28
  • @StoneyB: No question. Square brackets cover a multitude of deviations from exact quotation, and OP's context falls well within their scope. – FumbleFingers Oct 24 '12 at 21:30
  • That's sort of like saying your use of "exact" is "completely" wrong, lol. – alex gray Oct 24 '12 at 21:33
  • @SF But can you find that duplicate if you don't already know about square brackets?! – StoneyB on hiatus Oct 24 '12 at 21:37
  • @StoneyB: If we close this one, a future questioner searching for any of the words in this title will get here first, and follow the link to that original. There's no point in repeating the same answer. – FumbleFingers Oct 24 '12 at 21:55
  • @FumbleFingers That's a very nice point. I do note, however, that neither the linked question (nor its responses) addresses paraphrases. I might be open to merging the QQ if I knew exactly what happens in merging. – StoneyB on hiatus Oct 24 '12 at 22:58
  • @StoneyB: Kosmonaut's answer there says they're used to indicate that a direct quote has been edited* — to fit the surrounding information, etc.* That includes paraphrasing, to me. Obviously you're not about to agree with me, since you've answered here. But I think Occam's razor dictates that one answer in one place is better than two in different places, regardless of which is "better". – FumbleFingers Oct 24 '12 at 23:25
  • @FumbleFingers I agree. I have no essential objection to closing the question or (I think) to merging it, or to merging/deleting my answer ... I'd just poke my additions into an existing answer, but I'm very shy about editing other folks' writing. I'm not clear that on ELU that's encouraged in fact as opposed to FAQs. – StoneyB on hiatus Oct 25 '12 at 01:48
  • This squarely belongs on writersSE. Voting to close. – Kris Oct 25 '12 at 04:46
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    @Kris a: why does posting to english.SE always have to be so unfun, lol? b: "Squarely" seems a tad dramatic / subjective / pedantic, don't ya think? and c: wow, who knew there WAS such a site (writers.SE)... – alex gray Oct 25 '12 at 05:16
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    @alexgray a. ELU only if it is not off-topic b. Yes, it's meant to be dramatic, subjective, and pedantic. So it makes you discover writersSE. c. There you are! Explore. – Kris Oct 25 '12 at 05:19
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    Add another comment. – Matt E. Эллен Oct 25 '12 at 11:59

1 Answers1

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Standard scholarly usage is to enclose a paraphrase or addition occurring inside a passage identified as a quotation within square brackets: [ ]

You may make assurance doubly sure with your initials (or –ed. or –edd. to identify the interpolation as that of the editor or editors), thus:

"To be, or [an alternative –ag], that is the question."

By the same token, if you omit matter within a quotation you indicate this with ellipsis points: .... The newest version of the MLA Style Manual also requires you to enclose the ellipsis points within brackets, to distinguish your omission from the author's use of this mark:

"To be [...] is the question."

If youdunnit, bracket it.

StoneyB on hiatus
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  • What'll you give me not to mention the possible use of square brackets in material you're re-quoting? – Edwin Ashworth Oct 24 '12 at 22:37
  • @EdwinAshworth I don't know anything about that, and I'd like to know. Add an answer and I for one will upvote it. Perhaps you could ask OP to fold it into his question, too. – StoneyB on hiatus Oct 24 '12 at 22:59
  • Quoting material that itself contains lots of punctuation is probably best fully quoted. Omit paraphrasing and explain additions afterwards. Technical material and legal text come to mind, both make use of square brackets frequently. – Chris Oct 25 '12 at 01:20
  • @StoneyB: Lord spare us! How to handle square brackets in a passage being cited and partially paraphrased? Are you trying to knock our current most upvoted [sic] question off its pedestal? – FumbleFingers Oct 25 '12 at 02:46
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    @FumbleFingers As Goneril says: Sic, O sic! That is a question of such transcendentally profound triviality it must herald the imminent (and possibly here-immanent) end of Western Civilization. [sic] transit gloria mundi! – StoneyB on hiatus Oct 25 '12 at 03:22
  • @StoneyB: Sorry. What I was getting at is that as (1) quotes indicated as being such must be 100% accurate and (2) inserted material should be put in square brackets (both highly sensible rules), what happens if one quotes material already including square brackets? – Edwin Ashworth Oct 26 '12 at 19:25
  • @EdwinAshworth If I had to quote a previous editor's [EDIT] I would either add something in italics [EDIT–Jones' paraphrase–ed.] or replace Jones' ellipsis points with [Jones omits a sentence here–ed.]. But it seems to me unlikely I'd have occasion to quote a passage edited in this manner unless the editing itself were the topic under discussion; in that case I would either A) take care not to intrude any EDIT of my own, and to make clear that the EDITs were the previous author's, or B) explicitly introduce my own ad-hoc convention to deal with this 2-tier editing. – StoneyB on hiatus Oct 26 '12 at 19:51
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    I sometimes put quotes in a different colour from that of the main text. It's probably allowed in some style guide or other. – Edwin Ashworth Oct 28 '12 at 20:09