The Oxford Essential Guide to Writing.pdf - alexandriaesl

THE OTHER MARKS 429
Many of winter's plants are partial to the cleared sides of roads.
(The roots—which is what most winter foods are—are not subject
to the same kind of road pollution as are the leaves.)
Ruth Rudner
> Parentheses to Enclose Numbers or Letters
Marking a Series
When numbers or letters introduce the items in a list they
should be put within parentheses to differentiate them from
the text:
We must do three things: (1) study the route thoroughly, (2) purchase
supplies and equipment, and (3) hire a reliable guide.
Brackets
Brackets (which look like this: [ ]) are used in composition to
enclose within a quotation any words that are not a part of
it. Sometimes a writer needs to explain or comment on something
in the quotation. The sample sentence by Gilbert Seldes
in the section on parentheses contains such editorial addition
set within brackets. In the following passage the writer adds
a comment within the words spoken by a guide conducting
tourists around Jerusalem:
"This area," he would say as he showed us one of the Victorian
monstrosities, "this area [it was one of his favorite words] is very
rich in antiquity." Aldous Huxley
Sometimes, too, it is necessary to alter a quotation slightly
to fit it into its grammatical context—adding an auxiliary verb
or an ending, for instance. Any such addition to the actual
quotation must be enclosed in brackets:
Johnson writes that "monkeys ... [are] held in great esteem by the
tribe."