Grammar: Italics
Page contents:
emphasis
irony
defining words and demonstrating their uses
titles of books, newspapers, long poems, films, plays, etc.
works of art
names of ships
legal cases
foreign words and expressions
lengthy quotations
You will do as you’re told!
No one can be that foolish
What we can say, however, is…
Words to be emphasised in passages already italicised are typed in whatever script has been chosen for the main text –
When working with electrical equipment, you must always remember
that the live wire is coloured brown.
But the use of italics to create emphasis is rarely necessary. In most cases, the emphasis is evident from the context –
We warned him again and again, but he simply would not listen.
(Unnecessary to italicise would.)
The Met Office announced that it had been the coldest and wettest summer
since records began.
(Quotation marks may instead be used in manuscript.)
Defining Words and Demonstrating Their Uses
The verb to coruscate means ‘to sparkle’.
(Note that the word to be defined is italicised while the definition appears in quotation marks.)
I think unusual would be a more tactful way of describing his behaviour
than abnormal.
Titles of Books, Newspapers, Long Poems, Films, Plays, etc.
As a general rule, any work that is published or produced under its own title is given italics –
War and Peace
The Independent
The Ancient Mariner
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The Tempest
But newspapers tend to avoid italics and use only upper-case initials.
Major religious texts are never italicised: the Bible, the Koran, the Talmud.
The titles of minor works, such as chapters, articles, short stories and short poems, which are generally published under other titles, are given
single quotation marks –
‘The Killers’ is one of Hemingway’s most popular short stories; For
Whom the Bell Tolls is one of his most popular novels.
His article, ‘Europe: The Way Forward’, appeared in The Economist
last month.
But again, newspapers tend to use upper-case initials only.
Paintings and sculptures take italics –
Mona Lisa
Guernica
The Thinker
But there is little consistency with musical compositions. Large works of classical music tend to be italicised only in their given names, if they have
them –
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68
Wagner’s Ring Cycle
but –
Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony, The Pastoral (or The Pastoral)
Wagner’s Das Rheingold (or Das Rheingold)
Musicals and the titles of CDs might or might not be italicised, and song titles might or might not appear in quotation marks.
Queen Mary
Ark Royal
The Crown v. Smith (Note that the v. is not italicised.)
Foreign words considered to be fully anglicised are not italicised –
angst
aperitif
blancmange
croissant
rapport
veranda
Most others take italics, although some house styles now omit the practice –
bête noire
bona fide
bon appetite
ceteris paribus
coup d’état
déjà vu
esprit de corps
fait accompli
in flagrante delicto
je ne sais quoi
obiter dictum
(See also diacritics.)
The Latin expression e.g., i.e., etc. and per are rarely italicised today.
Italics are occasionally used in place of quotation marks for lengthy quotations (forty or more words), but quotations that take up several lines are
often better block quoted.