In written text we can use a variety of fonts or styles to draw attention to particular words in a sentence or in a work. This lesson is about italics.
One function of intonation in spoken English is to indicate emphasis. We can indicate skepticism, astonishment, suspicion and such emotional content by emphasizing different words in the sentence.
You told him that? Surprise: What a strange choice for a confident!
One function of intonation in spoken English is to indicate emphasis. We can indicate skepticism, astonishment, suspicion and such emotional content by emphasizing different words in the sentence.
You told him that? Astonishment: Have you no understanding of the consequences?
You told him that? Fury: How could you tell that secret?
You told him that? Horror: I trusted you. How could you betray us to the enemy?
You notice that I used italics for that. New technologies may not provide that subtlety. It seems that we are having to get used to SHOUTING through CAPITAL LETTERS as our only mode of emphasis in Instant Messaging and in other online settings.
Italics are also used for: book titles, names of ships, foreign words or phrases, and other things. An author would use underlining to tell the printer to put that word in italic letters.
Book: We are studying Hamlet this year.
Have you read the latest issue of Maclean’s magazine?
Art: We visited the gallery to view Van Gogh’s Starry Night.
Music: Don Maclean wrote Starry, Starry Night about Van Gogh.
Ship: Class prejudice accounted for most of the deaths on the Titanic.
Foreign: The tsunami swept everything up the beach and onto the shore.
Distinction: Some students misspell its for it’s and the reverse.
Notes: If you are naming the title of a poem in an anthology or an article in a magazine, use quotation marks for the smaller item and underline the larger one.
Poem: Have you read “Premonition” in The Complete Works of Robert Service, yet?
If you have not studied penmanship, as many modern students have not, you may substitute quotation marks for italics for the distinction of a special example.
Distinction: Use “advice” for the noun and “advise” for the verb.
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