Comment Re:Explain this language...! (Score 2, Informative) 531
I'm on about three hours sleep, beware.
Using [o]n would be due to the original passage having on at the start of a sentence - ie, "On a 10-point scale...". If I quoted that, and had on as the first word, no change, it was capitalised before, it would be capitalised now. If on was partway through a sentence, we'd make the O in On a lower-case o, then put brackets around it to indicate it's changed from the original source.
[T]he for the same reason - "I attacked the dog, which had a... " could be the original sentence. I could be quoting that in my own article, as eg "'[T]he dog, which had a...'". In the original the was not the start of the sentence, so it would be non-capitalised. Though in the article, the is changed to [T]he as a sentence must start with a capital letter.
In short, [o]n and [T]he and so forth are just an indication that the quoted passage has been changed slightly from the original due to positioning of the passage in a sentence, or due to the placement of the quote in a new passage.
Using [o]n would be due to the original passage having on at the start of a sentence - ie, "On a 10-point scale...". If I quoted that, and had on as the first word, no change, it was capitalised before, it would be capitalised now. If on was partway through a sentence, we'd make the O in On a lower-case o, then put brackets around it to indicate it's changed from the original source.
[T]he for the same reason - "I attacked the dog, which had a... " could be the original sentence. I could be quoting that in my own article, as eg "'[T]he dog, which had a...'". In the original the was not the start of the sentence, so it would be non-capitalised. Though in the article, the is changed to [T]he as a sentence must start with a capital letter.
In short, [o]n and [T]he and so forth are just an indication that the quoted passage has been changed slightly from the original due to positioning of the passage in a sentence, or due to the placement of the quote in a new passage.
