The Basic Cozy Punctuation Course
on Video or DVD

Lesson Twelve

Punctuation Within A Sentence

[Brackets]

Setting: Cape Mudge Lighthouse
(9:42)

"Brackets are used in pairs to enclose added bits of information -- facts, figures, and corrections -- that are meant to be set apart. Think of highway number signs that are placed at intervals along a highway.  These signs are like bits of information to clarify where you are."  The Cape Mudge Lighthouse inspires Marie to present examples based on facts about the lighthouse; George Vancouver, the Captain of the HMS Discovery, (he was the first European to explore and chart the Discovery Passage [1792]); and, an excerpt from a stage play called Rediscovering The River, to help illustrate the four ways brackets are used within a sentence.  These uses are: when you're writing a direct quotation and you need to add some words of your own for clarification, to correct errors in a quotation, to set aside an extra fact within parentheses, and to enclose written stage directions in scripts.   

Featured Music
Sonata in C (K545) Rondo (Mozart)
Sonata in D (K576) Allegretto (Mozart)
Sonatina in G (Beethoven)