The Italic/Underline Page:
The interesting thing about Italics/Underlines is that they mean the same thing.
The Underline functions as a direction to the typesetter who is setting up your book to get published to put whatever is Underlined into the typeface known as Italics.
After the typesetter sets the type for the above sentence we would have:
The Underline functions as a direction to the typesetter who is setting up your book to get published to put whatever is Underlined into typeface known as Italics.
Computers have, for the most part, outdated this practice since it is just as easy to put words into italics as it is to underline them.
But WATCH OUT!
There are still teachers who insist on underlining in the traditional way--to indicate italics.
The question remains, however: when do you want to use italics (underline)?
Titles of long works such as book titles.
- Gone With the Wind
- Old Man and the Sea
- Grapes of Wrath
- How to Cheat in School
Shorter works such as titles of short stories or poems are put in quotation marks.
Sometimes for emphasis we'll do an italic/underline:
Don't even think of parking here!
When writing non-English phrases in English:
As the Romans say, "Amo, Amas, Amat."
When playing around for different effects, you might use italics to indicate a person's thoughts, place some sort of emphasis, contrast different voices in a conversation.
In fact, why don't you try that right now.
Do a freewrite in which you experiment with italics.
Read over what you've just written. Do you like the effect? Did you overuse italics?
To return to Step Two, click: Step Two.
