


Her name is Nina, and she is a great hunter.

In this case, a writer can use square brackets to add clarifying information for a reader. Sometimes, a quote doesn’t make sense outside of the context it was originally used in or it references something else said earlier. When it comes to quotes, there are several different reasons to use square brackets. Square brackets allow you to do this while making it clear that whatever is in the square brackets was not part of the original text or statement. However, sometimes it is necessary to adjust a quote or provide additional context to it so as to help a reader understand what was being said. Typically, the most common reason you would need to use square brackets has to do with quotations.Īll style guides, grammar resources, and ethical guidelines will tell you that it is not acceptable to change the wording of a quote so as to change its meaning or attribute words to a person that they never said. Sometimes, though, using square brackets might be unavoidable so it is good to learn when you may need to use them. Often, writers will adjust their work or rephrase the text around a quote so as to avoid having to use square brackets at all. Most of the time, they are used to alter or provide additional context to quotes. In general, square brackets are used much less often than parentheses in writing.
