Square brackets

[theforce]

Hi
What is the difference between regular and square brackets in a newspaper article eg when a journalist is quoting someone?

[gen2]

That's easy.

Inside quotes, square brackets are used to enclose words that were not actually said, but which are a shorter substitute for the actual words spoken.

eg
A witness in court may say
"When I opened the door, that ******* ******* forced his way past me into the house"

That might then be reported as:
"When I opened the door, [the accused] forced his way past me into the house"

Round brackets would be used only if what is enclosed were words actually spoken by the person being quoted.

[Quizmonster]

They may also be used around such things as comments, corrections and translations...eg They [the Russians] eventually won the match.