Note: Brackets are placed around the inserted word in this example to let the reader know that ‘driving’ clarifies the meaning of the pronoun ‘it.’ leaves little processing capacity available for other tasks” (Salvucci and Taatgen 107). “It imposes a heavy procedural workload on cognition that. Quotation with brackets used correctly around a clarifying word: How are square brackets used around clarifying or explanatory words? A common error writers make is to use parentheses in place of brackets. The brackets, always used in pairs, enclose words intended to clarify meaning, provide a brief explanation, or to help integrate the quote into the writer’s sentence. When writers insert or alter words in a direct quotation, square brackets-are placed around the change. What punctuation should be used when words are inserted or altered in a direct quotation?