A question for the PH pedants

[911motorsport]

What is happening with brackets these days!? They seem to be appearing in places hitherto unseen.

Below is a snippet from the MOD planes cock-up report in today's Telegraph online.

Why the brackets around 'the MoD'?

Seems pointless, and it's happening a lot.

Article reads:

Committee chair Margaret Hodge said: "It is simply astonishing that it took until 2006 to recognise that the new aircraft should be able to fly into high-threat environments like Afghanistan.

"Four years later, (the MoD) has still not decided whether to fit the necessary protective equipment... because of the implications this would have for the cost of the PFI."

Why the brackets

Edited by 911motorsport on Thursday 16th September 13:37

[Cock Womble 7]

I notice this a lot in Non-fiction books, usually where the author is quoting from another source.

I think it's just to make it clear who is being talked about.

[DrTre]

It's usually when the bracketed term has appeared earlier in the full text (from which a quote has been taken) that has not been seen by the reader of the quoted text.

Having said that, they do appear to be being used more frequently, and often a little nonsensically.

[Grey Ghost]

They are becoming more frequent in news articles as the person quoted has used an obscure phrase or "industry" word or description that the writer believes Joe Public won't recognise and as such not understand the article or take a message from it in the wrong context.

Personally I believe it is just enough case of dumbing down due to people being considerably thicker these days

[AllTorque]

I always thought it was to add in a bit that was not in the original quote, but needed to make a coherent statement.

[AllTorque]

DrTre said it better. Smartarse.

[andywaterfall]

article said:

Committee chair Margaret Hodge said: "It is simply astonishing that it took until 2006 to recognise that the new aircraft should be able to fly into high-threat environments like Afghanistan.

"Four years later, (the MoD) has still not decided whether to fit the necessary protective equipment... because of the implications this would have for the cost of the PFI."

It's when they're quoting, and the original quote taken out of context was something like "Four years later, it has still not blah blah" - she'd presumably said MoD earlier on, but it wasn't in the quote they used, so they've replaced "it" with "(the MoD)" to make it clear they've not quoted her exactly.

HTH

[andywaterfall]

Always too slow.

[Cock Womble 7]

AllTorque said:

DrTre said it better. Smartarse.

He always does.

Smartarse.

[randlemarcus]

original quote had "it" in place of (the MOD). Accepted grammatical practice where replacing part of the quote for reasons of clarity.

[AllTorque]

randlemarcus said:

original quote had "it" in place of (the MOD). Accepted grammatical practice where replacing part of the quote for reasons of clarity.

what a load of sh(the MOD)

[rudecherub]

AllTorque said:

I always thought it was to add in a bit that was not in the original quote, but needed to make a coherent statement.

+1

I imagine Hodge said "It" as opposed the 'MoD' so the Journalist inserted (MoD) to indicate she was referring to the MoD but in actuality said it, them, they, etc.

[DrTre]

My arse is smart, thanks to all who noticed.

[911motorsport]

andywaterfall said:

article said:

Committee chair Margaret Hodge said: "It is simply astonishing that it took until 2006 to recognise that the new aircraft should be able to fly into high-threat environments like Afghanistan.

"Four years later, (the MoD) has still not decided whether to fit the necessary protective equipment... because of the implications this would have for the cost of the PFI."

It's when they're quoting, and the original quote taken out of context was something like "Four years later, it has still not blah blah" - she'd presumably said MoD earlier on, but it wasn't in the quote they used, so they've replaced "it" with "(the MoD)" to make it clear they've not quoted her exactly.

HTH

But then it would read as:

"Four years later it,(the MoD) has still not decided whether to fit the necessary protective equipment... because of the implications this would have for the cost of the PFI."

But I concede that this is clearly the reason for the brackets, thank you pedants of PH

Edited by 911motorsport on Thursday 16th September 13:50

[Cock Womble 7]

DrTre said:

My arse is smart, thanks to all who noticed.

Oh yeah, that's one smart arse you got there.

[DrTre]

911motorsport said:

"Four years later, it has still not decided whether to fit the necessary protective equipment... because of the implications this would have for the cost of the PFI."

This is what it will have said.

[Arese]

Aren't they supposed to use square brackets to insert words into a quote, though?

[AllTorque]

Arese said:

Aren't they supposed to use square brackets to insert words into a quote, though?

here we go....

[DrTre]

Cock Womble 7 said:

Oh yeah, that's one smart arse you got there.

Stop it now, it's unnerving me.

[911motorsport]

DrTre said:

911motorsport said:

"Four years later, it has still not decided whether to fit the necessary protective equipment... because of the implications this would have for the cost of the PFI."

This is what it, (the article) will have said.

EFGA

Edited by 911motorsport on Thursday 16th September 13:51