Thursday, March 19, 2020
When and How to Use Brackets
When and How to Use Brackets When and How to Use Brackets When and How to Use Brackets By Maeve Maddox Reader John B. Moss asks if there are guidelines for the use of brackets. There are indeed. Academic style guides such as the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers go into such matters at great length. The most common use of brackets is to enclose explanatory matter that one adds in editing the work of another writer. They indicate that some kind of alteration has been made in the original text. 1. In quoting a passage it is often necessary to insert information that was provided elsewhere in the original text: I dont care what he [Poe] meant by it, the line sounds great but makes no sense. 2. Sometimes a word in the quotation is archaic or used in a sense that may not be familiar to the intended reader so the editor may wish to provide an explanation in brackets: Paul said he was let [hindered] hitherto. In this episode of C.S.I. her character says Gimme some bling [gaudy jewelery]. 3. Sometimes its necessary to change the original capitalization or provide a word in order to make a quotation fit grammatically into the new text: Original: He was an out-spoken old curmudgeon. Quoted form: According to Joness biographer, [h]e was an out-spoken old curmudgeon. 4. Sometimes brackets are used to enclose the dots that indicate missing words. The usual way to indicate that some words have been left out (an ellipsis) is to mark the spot with three dots (). Original: It little profits that an idle king, By this still hearth, among these barren crags, Matchd with an aged wife, I mete and dole Unequal laws unto a savage race Incorporated quotation: According to Ulysses in Tennysons poem, it little profitsan idle kingtomete and dole unequal laws unto a savage race. Some (but not all) academic writers would enclose the dots in a quotation in brackets: According to Ulysses in Tennysons poem, it little profits[]an idle king[]to[]mete and dole unequal laws unto a savage race. Another use of brackets Brackets can be used in the context of ones own writing when more than one thing needs to be set apart. For example: Watching a popular actor who usually plays good characters play a villain (like Tom Hanks in Road to Perdition [2002]) has a negative effect on many movie-goers. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:12 Signs and Symbols You Should Know10 Types of TransitionsWhat’s the Best Way to Refer to a Romantic Partner?
Monday, March 2, 2020
How to Conjugate the Regular French Verb Acheter (To Buy)
How to Conjugate the Regular French Verb 'Acheter' ('To Buy') Achete (to buy) is a very common French stem-changing verb. It is a verb that has two different stems but is conjugated with the same endings as regular -er verbs. Stem-changing verbs are sometimes also called boot verbs or shoe verbs because if you circle the forms that have stem changes in the conjugation table below, the resulting shape looks like a boot or shoe. The Actual Stem Change For the present tense of verbs that end in -e_er ( _ indicates one or more consonants), the stem change consists of changing the e before that consonant to à ¨Ã‚ in all forms but nous and vous. See this happen in the table below. Stem changes are not limited to the present tense; they occur across several French tenses and moods, as shown in the table below. Note that the table below has only the simple conjugations of the verb acheter; it does not include the compound tenses, which consist of a form of the auxiliary verb and the past participle. Common -e_er Stem-Changing Verbs    acheter  to buy   amener  to take   emmener  to take    enlever  to remove   geler  to freeze   harceler  o harass   lever  to lift, raise   mener  to lead   peler  to peel   peser  to weigh   promener  to walk Other than acheter, geler, harceler and peler, most verbs that end in -eler and -eter are part of a different stem-change group that includes -eler verbs and -eter verbs. Verbs that end in -à ©_er have a similar stem change. For the present tense of verbs that end in -à ©_er, the stem change consists of changing à © to à ¨ in all forms but nous and vous, as in the following example:    je considà ¨re       nous considà ©rons   tu considà ¨res     vous considà ©rez   il considà ¨re        ils considà ¨rent Common -à ©_er Stem-Changing Verbs   cà ©der  to give up, dispose of   cà ©là ©brer to celebrate   complà ©ter to complete   considà ©rer to consider   diffà ©rer to differ   espà ©rer to hope   exagà ©rer* to exaggerate   gà ©rer to manage   inquià ©ter to worry   modà ©rer to moderate   pà ©nà ©trer to enter   possà ©der to possess   prà ©fà ©rer to prefer   protà ©ger* to protect   reflà ©ter to reflect   rà ©pà ©ter to repeat   rà ©và ©ler to reveal   suggà ©rer to suggest   zà ©brer to stripe*These are also spelling change verbs. Verbs that end in -e_er have a similar stem change. For -e_er verbs and -à ©_er verbs, the penultimate e takes on or changes to à ¨. Simple Conjugations of the French Stem-Changing Verb Acheter Present Future Imperfect Present participle j achte achterai achetais achetant tu achtes achteras achetais il achte achtera achetait nous achetons achterons achetions vous achetez achterez achetiez ils achtent achteront achetaient Pass compos Auxiliary verb avoir Past participle achet Subjunctive Conditional Pass simple Imperfect subjunctive j achte achterais achetai achetasse tu achtes achterais achetas achetasses il achte achterait acheta achett nous achetions achterions achetmes achetassions vous achetiez achteriez achettes achetassiez ils achtent achteraient achetrent achetassent Imperative tu achte nous achetons vous achetez
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