{"id":316,"date":"2012-02-24T15:41:48","date_gmt":"2012-02-24T15:41:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/transfer.writingcommons.org\/2012\/02\/24\/inserting-or-altering-words-in-a-direct-quotation\/"},"modified":"2021-09-08T14:26:36","modified_gmt":"2021-09-08T18:26:36","slug":"inserting-or-altering-words-in-a-direct-quotation","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/writingcommons.org\/article\/inserting-or-altering-words-in-a-direct-quotation\/","title":{"rendered":"Inserting or Altering Words in a Direct Quotation"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"tts_content_wrapper_2\" ><p>What punctuation should be used when words are inserted or altered in a direct quotation?<\/p>\n<p>When writers insert or alter words in a direct quotation, square brackets\u2014[ ]\u2014are placed around the change. The brackets, always used in pairs,\u00a0enclose words intended to clarify meaning, provide a brief explanation, or to help integrate the quote into the writer\u2019s sentence.\u00a0 A common error writers make is to use parentheses in place of brackets.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_69_1 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 eztoc-toggle-hide-by-default' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/writingcommons.org\/article\/inserting-or-altering-words-in-a-direct-quotation\/#How_are_square_brackets_used_around_clarifying_or_explanatory_words\" title=\"How are square brackets used around clarifying or explanatory words?\">How are square brackets used around clarifying or explanatory words?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/writingcommons.org\/article\/inserting-or-altering-words-in-a-direct-quotation\/#How_are_square_brackets_used_to_help_integrate_a_quote_properly\" title=\"How are square brackets used to help integrate a quote properly?\">How are square brackets used to help integrate a quote properly?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/writingcommons.org\/article\/inserting-or-altering-words-in-a-direct-quotation\/#Bracket_Use_Quick_Summary\" title=\"Bracket Use: Quick Summary\">Bracket Use: Quick Summary<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h4><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_are_square_brackets_used_around_clarifying_or_explanatory_words\"><\/span>How are square brackets used around clarifying or explanatory words?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>Let\u2019s look at an example:<\/p>\n<p>Quotation with brackets used <strong>correctly<\/strong> around a clarifying word:<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-left: 60px;\">\u201cIt [driving] imposes a heavy procedural workload on cognition that . . . leaves little processing capacity available for other tasks\u201d (Salvucci and Taatgen 107). [1]<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-left: 60px;\"><em><strong>Note<\/strong>: Brackets are placed around the inserted word in this example to let the reader know that \u2018driving\u2019 clarifies the meaning of the pronoun \u2018it.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Quotation with parentheses <strong>incorrectly<\/strong> used in place of brackets:<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-left: 60px;\">\u201cIt (driving) imposes a heavy procedural workload on cognition that . . . leaves little processing capacity available for other tasks\u201d (Salvucci and Taatgen 107).<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-left: 60px;\"><em><strong>Note<\/strong>: Parentheses are used incorrectly in place of brackets in this example, making the inserted word look like it could be part of the original text.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s look at another example:<\/p>\n<p>Quotation with brackets used <strong>correctly<\/strong> around an explanatory insert:<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-left: 60px;\">\u201c[D]riving is not as automatic as one might think; in fact, it imposes a heavy procedural workload [visual and motor demands] on cognition that . . . leaves little processing capacity available for other tasks\u201d (Salvucci and Taatgen 107).<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-left: 60px;\"><em><strong>Note<\/strong>: Brackets are placed around the inserted words in this example to provide further explanation of the \u201cprocedural workload\u201d discussed in the original text.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Quotation with parentheses <strong>incorrectly<\/strong> used in place of brackets:<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-left: 60px;\">\u201c[D]riving is not as automatic as one might think; in fact, it imposes a heavy procedural workload (visual and motor demands) on cognition that . . . leaves little processing capacity available for other tasks\u201d (Salvucci and Taatgen 107).<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-left: 60px;\"><em><strong>Note<\/strong>: Parentheses are used incorrectly in place of brackets in this example, making the inserted words look like they are part of the original text.<\/em><\/p>\n<h4><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_are_square_brackets_used_to_help_integrate_a_quote_properly\"><\/span>How are square brackets used to help integrate a quote properly?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>Let\u2019s look at an example:<\/p>\n<p>Original direct quotation beginning with an upper case letter:<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-left: 60px;\">\u201cThe heavy cognitive workload of driving suggests that any secondary task has the potential to affect driver behavior\u201d (Salvucci and Taatgen 108).<\/p>\n<p>Integrated quotation with brackets used <strong>correctly<\/strong> to indicate a change in letter case:<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-left: 60px;\">Salvucci and Taatgen propose that \u201c[t]he heavy cognitive workload of driving suggests that any secondary task has the potential to affect driver behavior\u201d (108).<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-left: 60px;\"><em><strong>Note<\/strong>: Brackets are placed around the lower-case letter \u2018t\u2019 to indicate that the letter case has been changed. The quotation is introduced by a signal phrase, which makes the quote an integral part of the writer\u2019s sentence; as a result of this syntactical change, the upper case \u2018T\u2019 in the original is changed to a lower case letter.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s look at another example:<\/p>\n<p>Original direct quotation written in the past tense:<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-left: 60px;\">\u201cNot coincidentally, drivers have been increasingly engaging in secondary tasks while driving\u201d (Salvucci and Taatgen 68).<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-left: 60px;\"><em><strong>Note<\/strong>: The authors\u2019 words appear in the past tense in the original text.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Quotation with brackets used <strong>correctly<\/strong> to indicate a change in verb tense:<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-left: 60px;\">\u201cNot coincidentally, drivers [are] increasingly engaging in secondary tasks while driving\u201d (Salvucci and Taatgen 68).<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-left: 60px;\"><em><strong>Note<\/strong>: Brackets are placed around the word \u2018are\u2019 to indicate that the verb has been changed to the present tense, which is the preferred tense for most writing in MLA style. The past tense is preferred for APA style writing.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>A word of caution<\/strong>: Bracketed insertions may not be used to alter or add to the quotation in a way that inaccurately or unfairly represents the original text. Quite simply, do not use bracketed material in a way that twists the author\u2019s meaning.<\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Bracket_Use_Quick_Summary\"><\/span>Bracket Use: Quick Summary<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Do<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Don&#8217;t<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Use brackets to enclose inserted words intended to clarify meaning within a quotation.<\/td>\n<td>Use parentheses when inserting words into a quotation.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Use brackets to enclose inserted words intended to provide a brief explanation within a quotation.<\/td>\n<td>Use parentheses to enclose a change in letter case or verb tense when integrating a quote into your paper.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Use brackets to enclose a change in letter case or verb tense when integrating a quote into your paper.<\/td>\n<td>Use bracketed material in a way that twists the author&#8217;s meaning.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p class=\"works-cited\">[1] Salvucci, Dario D., and Niels A. Taatgen. <em>Multitasking Minds<\/em>. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2011. <em>eBook Collection (EBSCOhost)<\/em>. Web. 20 Feb. 2012.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":7,"template":"","tags":[752,509,753,700,751,758,754,756,534,507,755,759,303,541,757,209],"chapters":[1965,1946],"content_type":[],"class_list":["post-316","article","type-article","status-publish","hentry","tag-alter-words","tag-apa","tag-brackets","tag-clarity","tag-direct-quotation","tag-examples","tag-explanation","tag-explanatory","tag-integrate","tag-mla","tag-parentheses","tag-properly","tag-quotations","tag-quote","tag-words","tag-writer","chapters-evidence","chapters-invention"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingcommons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingcommons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingcommons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingcommons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/writingcommons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/316\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33395,"href":"https:\/\/writingcommons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/316\/revisions\/33395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingcommons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingcommons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316"},{"taxonomy":"chapters","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingcommons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/chapters?post=316"},{"taxonomy":"content_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingcommons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content_type?post=316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}