35 | Parentheses, Brackets, and Ellipses
35|Parentheses, Brackets, and Ellipses
Parentheses (singular, parenthesis) work in pairs. So do brackets. Both surround bits of information to make a statement perfectly clear. An ellipsis mark is a trio of periods inserted to show that something has been cut.
Parentheses
35aUse parentheses to set off interruptions that are useful but not essential.
Franklin D. Roosevelt (commonly known as “FDR”) won four elections.
He occupied the White House for so many years (1933 to mid-1945) that babies became teens without having known any other president.
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The material within parentheses may be helpful, but it isn’t essential. Use parentheses to add a qualification, a helpful date, or a brief explanation—words that, in conversation, you might add in a changed tone of voice.
35bUse parentheses around letters or numbers indicating items in a series.
Archimedes asserted that, given (1) a lever long enough, (2) a fulcrum, and (3) a place to stand, he could move the earth.
No parentheses are needed for numbers or letters in an indented list.
EXERCISE 35-1 Using Parentheses
Add, remove, or replace parentheses wherever appropriate in the following sentences. Some sentences may be correct. Possible Example:
Our cafeteria serves the four basic food groups: white—milk, bread, and mashed potatoes—brown—mystery meat and gravy—green—overcooked vegetables and underwashed lettuce—and orange—squash, carrots, and tomato sauce.
The hijackers will release the hostages only if the government, 1, frees all political prisoners and, 2, allows the hijackers to leave the country.
When Phil said he works with whales (as well as other marine mammals) for the Whale Stranding Network, Lisa thought he meant that his group lures whales onto beaches.
The new pear-shaped bottles will hold 200 milliliters, 6.8 fluid ounces, of lotion.
World War I, or “The Great War,” as it was once called, destroyed the old European order forever.
The Internet is a mine of fascinating, and sometimes useless, information.
Brackets
Brackets, those open-ended typographical boxes, work in pairs like parentheses. Their special purpose is to mark changes in quoted material.
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35cUse brackets to add information or to make changes within a direct quotation.
For advice on quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing, see Chs. 33 and 34 in A Writer’s Research Manual.
A quotation must be quoted exactly. If you add or alter a word or a phrase in a quotation from another writer, place brackets around your changes.
Suppose you are writing about James McGuire’s being named chairman of the board of directors of General Motors. In your source, the actual words are these: “A radio bulletin first brought the humble professor of philosophy the astounding news.” But in your paper, you want readers to know the professor’s identity. So you add that information, in brackets.
“A radio bulletin first brought the humble professor of philosophy [James McGuire] the astounding news.”
Never alter a quoted statement any more than you have to. Ask yourself: Do I really need this quotation, or should I paraphrase?
35dUse brackets around sic to indicate an error in a direct quotation.
When you faithfully quote a statement that contains an error, follow the error with a bracketed sic (Latin for “so” or “so the writer says”). Usually you’re better off paraphrasing an error-riddled passage.
The book Cake Wrecks includes a photo of a cake with this message written on top in icing: Happy Thanksgiven [sic].
Ellipses
35eUse ellipses to signal that you have omitted part of a quotation.
Occasionally you will want to quote just the parts of a passage that relate to your topic. Acknowledge your cuts with ellipses: three periods with a space between each one ( . . .). If ellipses conclude a sentence, precede them with a period placed at the end of the sentence. Suppose you want to quote from Marie Winn’s book Children without Childhood (Penguin, 1984) but omit some of its detail. Use ellipses to show each cut:
According to Winn, children’s innocence can be easily lost: “Today’s nine- and ten-year-olds . . . not infrequently find themselves involved in their own parents’ complicated sex lives, . . . at least as advisers, friendly commentators, and intermediaries.”
35fAvoid using ellipses at the beginning or end of a quotation.
Even though a source continues after a quoted passage, you don’t need ellipses at the end of your quotation. Nor do you need to begin a quotation with three dots. Save the ellipses for words you omit inside whatever you quote. If you cut more than a section or two, think about paraphrasing.
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EXERCISE 35-2 Using Brackets and Ellipses
The following is a passage from an essay. The sentences that follow use quoted material from the passage. Correct any faulty use of brackets and ellipses, and add brackets and ellipses if necessary. Some sentences may be correct. Answers for the lettered sentences appear at the end of the Handbook.
Darwin himself was not entirely consistent in the language he used to describe his beliefs. And of course his views changed over the course of his life. Starting in 1876 he began writing a private autobiography for his children and grandchildren. In it he mentioned the change in his religious views. A gradual skepticism towards Christianity and the authenticity of the Bible gradually crept over him during the late 1830s—leaving him not a Christian, but no atheist either; rather a sort of theist. To be a “theist” in Darwin’s day was to believe that a supernatural deity had created nature or the universe but did not intervene in the course of history.
—John van Wyhe, “Was Charles Darwin an Atheist?”
According to van Wyhe, “Darwin was not consistent in the language he used to describe his beliefs.”
John van Wyhe notes that “Darwin’s views on religion changed over the course of his life.”
John van Wyhe points out that Darwin wrote privately about his shift in beliefs.
According to van Wyhe, “A gradual skepticism towards Christianity gradually crept over Darwin during the late 1830s.”
John van Wyhe writes that Darwin was “not a Christian, but no atheist either; rather a sort of theist.”
John van Wyhe explains that theists such as Darwin believed in “a supernatural deity that had created nature or the universe but did not intervene in the course of history.”