Ital can be used to indicate emphasis, such as in this scolding from a parent to a child:
“You are not to do that. ”
In fact, ital is the proper way to indicate emphasis; using ALL CAPS is not the way to do this. All caps has become common as a means of showing emphasis in the era of texting and social media, but it is improper. Ital is the correct way to show emphasis.
“You are not to do that. ”
In fact, ital is the proper way to indicate emphasis; using ALL CAPS is not the way to do this. All caps has become common as a means of showing emphasis in the era of texting and social media, but it is improper. Ital is the correct way to show emphasis.
Another use for ital is to show thought or inner dialogue for a character. For example, as a character is walking to the door, he or she may ponder who could be ringing the doorbell late at night. This may appear similar to:
This’d better be damned important, Francine thought as she plodded toward the front door.
Compare that to:
“This’d better be damned important, ” Francine blurted as she plodded toward the front door.
In both cases, there are verbs that tell the reader whether the dialogue is thought or spoken (thought versus blurted), but the use of ital is a convention instantly recognized by readers as internal dialogue. This convention also allows the writer to tighten up the language a bit:
This’d better be damned important. Francine plodded toward the front door.
This’d better be damned important, Francine thought as she plodded toward the front door.
Compare that to:
“This’d better be damned important, ” Francine blurted as she plodded toward the front door.
In both cases, there are verbs that tell the reader whether the dialogue is thought or spoken (thought versus blurted), but the use of ital is a convention instantly recognized by readers as internal dialogue. This convention also allows the writer to tighten up the language a bit:
This’d better be damned important. Francine plodded toward the front door.
A use of ital that is all too often overlooked is to indicate foreign words. Anytime a word or phrase that is not English is used, it should be set in ital. For example:
Even though Paul was the named leader of the department, Kevin was the de facto leader as he was the one everybody turned to for direction.
This application of ital can be used in fiction as well. In this example, the writer effectively includes French in a way that does not require the reader to know the language:
“I was sorry to hear of your wife’s passing, ” Etienne’s French accent somehow saddened the words even more.
“Thank you. It has been hard on me. But she is in God’s hands now. ”
“Oui, dans les main de Dieu.”
The ital denotes the last statement as being in a foreign language, and the reader can fairly easily understand that it is a repeat of the previous statement.
Even though Paul was the named leader of the department, Kevin was the de facto leader as he was the one everybody turned to for direction.
This application of ital can be used in fiction as well. In this example, the writer effectively includes French in a way that does not require the reader to know the language:
“I was sorry to hear of your wife’s passing, ” Etienne’s French accent somehow saddened the words even more.
“Thank you. It has been hard on me. But she is in God’s hands now. ”
“Oui, dans les main de Dieu.”
The ital denotes the last statement as being in a foreign language, and the reader can fairly easily understand that it is a repeat of the previous statement.
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