why do journalists and authors often put brackets around words in seemingly strange parts of sentences?

Question

For example, a sentence I just read went as follows:

> “‘I don’t think [the book] had anything to do with his arrest and neither does Anne Marie Schubert,’ he says.”—(Excerpt from the appendix of ‘I’ll Be Gone in the Dark’ by Michelle McNamara)

Found in Other.

Answer 1

It’s usually done to show words that have been inserted, usually for clarification. These can be places where a word was accidentally omitted, or a word like “it” was used and they’re replacing “it” with what the author was referring to, while still showing it wasn’t what was originally written. It’s done just to help things make more sense.