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What's the difference between Parentheses and brackets ?

Brackets- they are mainly used to enclose explanatory or missing material usually added by someone other than the original author, especially in quoted text. Example: "They made it[the work] perfect.



 parentheses- contain material that could be omitted without destroying and changing the meaning of the sentence.

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 For citing quotes, they are used differently. Parentheses are at the end of the quote in an in-text citation to cite the source.

 Example: "Approximately one-third of the European population had been decimated by the Bubonic plague" (Jones 14).

 Brackets are used to alter quoted text, usually used to change verb tenses or modify nouns.
 example: "The man has eaten the sandwich."
 altered: "The man [ate] the sandwich."

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