Test Yourself

Italics

[Harbrace 24]

Review

See Introduction to Italics below 

Introduction

A slanted typeface called italics is used to set off certain names and words. When handwriting or typing, indicate italics by underlining.

Use italics to set off the titles or names of these things: 

• books, Dune 
• plays, King Lear 
• movies, Ghostbusters 
• television shows, Dallas 
• newspapers, Suburbanite 
• magazines, Newsweek 
• journals, American Speech 
• pamphlets, A Modest Proposal 
• long poems, The Canterbury Tales 
• works of art, La Gioconda 
• trains, The Zephyr 
• ships, The Titanic 
• spacecraft, The Eagle 
• aircraft, The Spirit of St. Louis 
• legal cases, Miranda v. Arizona 
• radio programs, Prairie Home Companion 
• long musical compositions, Symphony in D 

Also use italics in these special cases: 

1. foreign words and phrases that have not become part of English:

We live la vida buena, the good life. 

2. ordinary words that need special emphasis (use rarely and cautiously):

He is not my friend. 

Don't use italics in these cases: 

Use quotation marks, not italics, for titles of short works -- articles in periodicals, chapters, essays, poems, stories, and songs. 

Irving Berlin wrote "God Bless America" as a tribute to our country.