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Italics (Underlining)
To set off certain words and phrases, printers www.mhhe.com/
have traditionally used italics, a typeface in nmhh
For information
which the characters slant to the right. Now and exercises on
any word-processing program can produce italics, go to
italics. If italics are not available, however, Editing > Italics
you can underline words that would be typeset in italics. MLA documentation style now
prefers italics to underlining (see Chapter 24:
MLA Documentation Style, pp. 374–426).
➤
Tom Hanks gives one of his best performances in Saving
Private Ryan.
➤
Tom Hanks gives one of his best performances in Saving
Private Ryan.
Editing tip: The abbreviation ital indicates that italics are
needed. (Professional editors and proofreaders also mark words
to be italicized by underlining them.) The abbreviation rom,
which stands for roman (or regular) type, indicates that an
italicized word or words should not be italicized. (Professional
editors and proofreaders also circle words to be changed from
italics to roman.)
Italics and Grammar Checkers
Computer grammar checkers cannot help you decide if you have
used italics or underlining appropriately. You will need to learn
how to apply to your own work the rules found in this chapter or
required by the discipline in which you are working.
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Italics (underlining)
T EXT C ONNEX
Italics and Underlining
Depending on the software you are using, italics or underlining
may not be available for your e-mail messages. To indicate underlining, put an underscore mark or an asterisk before and after
what you would italicize or underline in a manuscript: Tom Hanks
gives one of his best performances in _Saving Private Ryan_.
To create Web sites, many people use hypertext markup language (HTML). In HTML, underlining indicates a hypertext link.
If your work is going to be posted on the World Wide Web, use
italics for titles instead of underlining to avoid confusion.
60a Italicize (underline) titles of lengthy works
or separate publications.
Italicize (or underline) titles of long works or works that are not part
of a larger publication. The box on the next page provides a guide.
In titles of lengthy works, a, an, or the is capitalized and italicized
(underlined) if it is the first word, but the is not treated as part of the
title in names of newspapers and periodicals in MLA or Chicago style:
the New York Times. If you are following APA or CSE style, however,
you should treat the as part of the title.
Court cases may also be italicized or underlined, but legal documents are not.
➤
In Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954), the U.S.
Supreme Court ruled that segregation in public schools is
unconstitutional.
➤
He obtained a writ of habeas corpus.
Do not italicize or underline punctuation marks that follow a title
unless they are part of the title:
➤
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I finally finished reading Moby Dick!
Exceptions: Do not use italics or underlining when referring to
the Bible and other sacred books.
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Titles of lengthy works
60a
WORKS THAT SHOULD BE
ITALICIZED (or UNDERLINED)
Books (including textbooks)
The Color of Water
The Art of Public Speaking
Magazines and journals
Texas Monthly
College English
Newspapers
Chicago Tribune
Comic strips
Dilbert
Plays, films, and television series
Death of a Salesman
On the Waterfront
The American Experience
Long musical compositions
Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony (but Beethoven’s Symphony
no. 6—the title consists of the musical form, a number, and/or
a key)
Choreographic works
Balanchine’s Jewels
Artworks
Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks
Web sites
The Motley Fool
Software
Microsoft PowerPoint
Long poems
Odyssey
Pamphlets
Gorges: A Guide to the Geology of the Ithaca Area
Quotation marks are used for the titles of short works, including essays, newspaper and magazine articles and columns, short stories, and
short poems. Quotation marks are also used for the titles of unpublished
works when they are referred to within texts, including student papers,
theses, and dissertations. (See Chapter 54, p. 856, for more on quotation marks with titles.)
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Italics (underlining)
60b Italicize (underline) the names of ships,
trains, aircraft, and spaceships.
Italicize the name of a specific ship, aircraft, or spaceship, but do not
italicize any abbreviations used with the name, such as HMS or SS.
Model names and numbers (such as Boeing 747) are not italicized.
Queen Mary 2
60c
➤
Orient Express
Spirit of St. Louis
Apollo 11
Italicize (underline) foreign terms.
In the Paris airport, we recognized the familiar no smoking
sign: Défense de fumer.
Many foreign words have become so common in English that everyone
accepts them as part of the language. Terms such as rigor mortis, pasta,
and sombrero, for example, do not require italics or underlining.
60d
Italicize (underline) scientific names.
The scientific (Latin) names of organisms, consisting of the genus and
species, are always italicized.
➤
Most chicks are infected with Cryptosporidium baileyi,
a parasite typical of young animals.
Note: Although the whole name is italicized, only the genus part
of the name is capitalized.
60e Italicize (underline) words, letters, and numbers
referred to as themselves.
For clarity, italicize words or phrases used as words rather than for
the meaning they convey. (You may also use quotation marks for this
purpose.)
➤
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The term romantic does not mean the same thing to
the Shelley scholar as it does to the fan of Danielle
Steele’s novels.
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Emphasis
60f
Letters and numbers used alone should also be italicized.
➤
The word bookkeeper has three sets of double letters: double
o, double k, and double e.
➤
Add a 3 to that column.
60f
Use italics (underlining) sparingly for emphasis.
Sometimes writers are tempted to italicize words to show the kind of
emphasis they would give the word in speaking. An occasional word in
italics helps you make a point. Too much emphasis, however, may
mean no emphasis at all.
WEAK
You don’t mean that your teacher told the whole
class that he did not know the answer himself ?
REVISED
Your teacher admitted that he did not know the
answer? That is amazing.
Note: If you add italics or underlining to a quotation, indicate
the change in parentheses following the quotation.
➤
Instead of promising that no harm will come to us,
Blake only assures us that we “need not fear harm”
(emphasis added).
Exercise 60.1
Chapter review: Italics
Edit the following passage, underlining the words that should be italicized and circling the italicized words that should be roman.
Today, thousands of people in the United States practice
yoga for its physical, spiritual, and mental benefits. The word
yoga, originating from the Sanskrit root yuj, means the union
of the body, spirit, and mind. Although there are many styles
of yoga, people who want a gentle introduction to yoga should
practice Iyengar yoga, a style developed by B.K.S. Iyengar
of India, which uses props such as blocks, belts, and pillows to
help the body find alignment in asanas (poses) and pranayama (breathing). Those people who want to learn more about
Iyengar yoga are encouraged to read the following books
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Italics (underlining)
written by the master himself: Light on Yoga, Light on Pranayama, The Art of Yoga, The Tree of Yoga, and Light on the
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Those who want to learn about the
general benefits of yoga can find numerous articles, such as
“Yoga and Weight Loss,” by doing a general online search. All
forms of yoga promise the diligent and faithful practitioner
increased strength, flexibility, and balance.
FIGURE 60.1 A yoga class.
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