Public Services and Procurement Canada
Symbol of the Government of Canada

Institutional Links

 

Important notice

The Canadian Style has been archived and won’t be updated before it is permanently deleted.

For the most up-to-date content, please consult Writing Tips Plus, which combines content from Writing Tips and The Canadian Style. And don’t forget to update your bookmarks!

Search Canada.ca

7.36 Square Brackets, General

Square brackets, often simply called brackets, are more disconnective than parentheses. They are used to enclose material too extraneous for parentheses. Use brackets for editorial comments or additional information on material written by someone else. To use ordinary parentheses for this purpose would give the impression that the inserted words were those of the person quoted. Square brackets should also enclose translations given immediately after short quotations, terms and titles of books or articles. See 8.14 French and foreign-language quotations for detailed information and examples.