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Yes, I have read every link about this, and this question might appear to be the same but is a little different based on what I'm asking. CMOS does not elucidate as to what the original text might have been, and I'm trying very hard to understand this principle of bracketed lowercase letters.

Source: Chicago Manual of Style, 17th Edition

13.21: Brackets to indicate a change in capitalization

Chapter Contents / Quotations in Relation to Text / Initial Capital or Lowercase Letter

In some legal writing, close textual analysis or commentary, and other contexts, it is considered obligatory to indicate any change in capitalization by brackets. Although this practice is unnecessary in most writing, in contexts where it is considered appropriate it should be employed consistently throughout a work.

My question: I need your interpretation of what the original passage might have stated based on the example below:

Chicago's example below:

According to article 6, section 6, she is given the power “[t]o extend or renew any existing indebtedness.”

“[R]eal estates may be conveyed by lease and release, or bargain and sale,” according to section 2 of the Northwest Ordinance.

Let us compare Aristotle’s contention that “[i]nferiors revolt in order that they may be equal, and equals that they may be superior” (Politics 5.2), with his later observation that “[r]evolutions also break out when opposite parties, e.g. the rich and the people, are equally balanced” (5.4).

whippoorwill
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  • The original passage for the first one read "To extend or renew any existing indebtedness." – Peter Shor Sep 30 '21 at 23:38
  • That couldn't have been the original passage because it is an incomplete sentence. – whippoorwill Oct 01 '21 at 00:10
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    Perhaps 'To extend or renew any existing indebtedness, the owner has an implicit obligation to ...' was rewritten 'She has a legal obligation "[t]o extend or renew any existing indebtedness,"' or something like that. – A rural reader Oct 01 '21 at 00:15
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    The first one (with a capital "T") could have been a heading rather than part of a complete sentence, or it could have been the beginning of a longer sentence. Note that square brackets aren't used within a quotation only for changes of capitalisation, they are also used to allow whole words or phrases to be paraphrased for clarity. One can't tell exactly what the missing part of the quoted text said, but the part not in quotes should provide enough context for the whole thing to make sense. – nnnnnn Oct 01 '21 at 00:46
  • What about "[i]nferiors" and "[r]evolutions"? – whippoorwill Oct 01 '21 at 00:58
  • You may be overthinking this. A single letter in brackets as a portion of a word indicates a change of case for that letter. "[t]o extend or renew any existing indebtedness" could have been in a bullet list, numbered list, or the start of a sentence. Either way, the phrase was <<>> in the original text. – jimm101 Oct 01 '21 at 15:48

1 Answers1

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Just look up the original text. For example . . .

Aristotle said:

Inferiors revolt in order that they may be equal, and equals that they may be superior.
Source: circa 350 B.C. POLITICS Aristotle Translated by Benjamin Jowett

Your paper would say:

Let us compare Aristotle’s contention that "[i]nferiors revolt in order that they may be equal, and equals that they may be superior."

But, as Chicago noted, this device is unnecessary in most writing.

Tinfoil Hat
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