<p>What you are reading is a play script.</p>

<p>It is one of the common ways to mark non-dialogue lines in the script with "〔" or "[" ahead of the line. So in this case it's not actually functioning as half bracket, but rather just a head mark.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-04-11T18:25:38.853Z
2019-04-11T18:33:19.213Z
2019-04-11T18:33:19.213Z
tweray
<p>The beginning of <em>Press-Ganging Able-Bodied Men</em>《抓壮丁》has the following passage filled with three consecutive lines starting with left tortoise shell brackets (〔) :</p>

<blockquote>
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/GdtSo.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/GdtSo.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
</blockquote>

<p>and transcription:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>〔中秋节前一天。<br>
  〔一个暴发户，货高利货，大斗进小斗出，盘剥起家的地主的堂屋。（如在广场演出，只要一张桌子，四根板凳或椅子就行了。）<br>
  〔开幕时，李老拴坐在桌前抽水烟，一边唱着《江油关》。</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I find it especially interesting that the brackets don't close, i.e.: you don't see the opposite facing tortoise shell bracket (〕) close off the sentences.</p>

<p>What role do these "〔" brackets play here?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-04-11T09:38:34.507Z
六角符號 ＂〔〕＂多被稱爲＂舞臺提示符號＂。另一半＂〕＂不寫的原因嘛，可能是被英語標點用法的習慣影響的。例: https://style.mla.org/speech-paragraphs-quotation-marks/ **Use a closing quotation mark**, however, only at the end of the person’s speech, **not at the end of every paragraph**.
dROOOze
<punctuation>
What usage do left tortoise shell brackets (〔) play in plays?
# What usage do left tortoise shell brackets (〔) play in plays?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-04-11)

The beginning of *Press-Ganging Able-Bodied Men*《抓壮丁》has the following passage filled with three consecutive lines starting with left tortoise shell brackets (〔) :

> [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/GdtSo.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/GdtSo.png)

and transcription:

> 〔中秋节前一天。  
> 〔一个暴发户，货高利货，大斗进小斗出，盘剥起家的地主的堂屋。（如在广场演出，只要一张桌子，四根板凳或椅子就行了。）  
> 〔开幕时，李老拴坐在桌前抽水烟，一边唱着《江油关》。

I find it especially interesting that the brackets don't close, i.e.: you don't see the opposite facing tortoise shell bracket (〕) close off the sentences.

What role do these "〔" brackets play here?

**Tags:** punctuation

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: 六角符號 ＂〔〕＂多被稱爲＂舞臺提示符號＂。另一半＂〕＂不寫的原因嘛，可能是被英語標點用法的習慣影響的。例: https://style.mla.org/speech-paragraphs-quotation-marks/ **Use a closing quotation mark**, however, only at the end of the person’s speech, **not at the end of every paragraph**.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2019-04-11. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

What you are reading is a play script.

It is one of the common ways to mark non-dialogue lines in the script with "〔" or "[" ahead of the line. So in this case it's not actually functioning as half bracket, but rather just a head mark.


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