A sloping, or italic, typeface has a number of uses in printed material. Italics are by convention applied to titles of books, paintings, pieces of music, and other works of art, as well as to the names of newspapers and other publications, films, and plays (Far from the Madding Crowd; Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Lord of the Rings, New York Times). They are also widely used for the names of specific spacecraft, ships, and aircraft (Challenger space shuttle, Titanic ocean liner, Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis). It is also accepted practice to put words or phrases from foreign languages in italics (dulce et decorum est; sans pareil; weltenschauung), although words and phrases from foreign languages that have become thoroughly absorbed into the English language (siesta; ad nauseum; je ne sais quois) are more likely rendered in ordinary (roman) type.In other circumstances, italics are used to highlight a particular word or phrase or to add emphasis. Care should be taken not to employ italics in this manner too frequently, because overuse tends to blunt the impact. Italics may also be used to denote quotations or (as in this book) examples.Note that when writing by hand it is possible to indicate passages that are intended to be printed in italic by underlining them.
|
Email
Print
Save
Citation
Record URL
