Nieuwsbrief november 2008
Heikele spellingskwesties – Between brackets
Did you know that by using brackets in English in the same way that you would in Dutch, you risk causing major misunderstandings?
How would you interpret the sentence: The sponsor will provide (financial) resources?
Your answer may well depend on whether your first language is English or – like the original writer of that sentence – Dutch.
Because brackets are used in English as a way of separating information that is not key to understanding a sentence, a native English speaker will assume that the adjective financial has been bracketed because it is not essential (perhaps because the writer feels that he/she is stating the obvious) and that the only resources at issue are financial.
On the other hand, a native Dutch speaker, accustomed to seeing brackets used in Dutch as a shorthand device, would probably take the sentence to mean the same as its apparent equivalent: De sponsor stelt (financiële) middelen beschikbaar. The assumption would then be that the sponsor is to provide financial resources and other types of resources as well.
The sentence was in fact part of a document that was drafted in English by a native Dutch speaker, and the intention was to stipulate that the sponsor would provide both financial resources and other types of resources. However, as a rule, brackets are not used in English to shorten sentences in this way, and so the drafting of the provision was in fact highly ambiguous. Instead, the brackets should have been omitted and the information written out in full as: The sponsor will provide both financial and other types of resources.
The same applies to similar phrases that commonly crop up in English texts written by native Dutch speakers, for instance the (inter)national markets and (mis)use of funds. In these cases, the brackets should be dispensed with and the information written out in full, as the national and international markets and use and misuse of funds respectively.
Nonetheless, it will be no surprise to learn that there is an exception: in English, brackets are sometimes used as a shorthand device where two words differ only by a single letter. For instance, in a form you might be asked to give reason(s) or to fill in your middle name(s). In such cases, the brackets are used simply to avoid the awkwardness of writing reason or reasons or name or names – and in these cases, because there can be no confusion as to meaning, this kind of usage is perfectly acceptable.
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