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Author Topic: Question about italics
pickled shuttlecock
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From the preface of Mere Christianity:

quote:
In my talks I had therefore used all the contractions and colloquialisms I ordinarily use in conversation. In the printed version I reproduced this, putting don't and we've for do not and we have. And whereever, in the talks, I had made the importance of a word clear by the emphasis of my voice, I printed it in italics. I am now inclined to think that this was a mistake - an undesirable hybrid between the art of speaking and the art of writing. A talker ought to use variations of voice for emphasis because his medium naturally lends itself to that method: but a writer ought not to use italics for the same purpose. He has his own, different, means of bringing out the key words and ought to use them.

Can/should/does this attitude toward italics still apply? (I know we break the contractions "rule" all the time in fiction.) What do you think?


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EricJamesStone
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I would say that you shouldn't use italics for emphasis in narration.

However, in dialogue, I think it's sometimes useful to show that the speaker emphasized a particular word or phrase. But it should be used sparingly.

I guess that would also apply to italicizing words in a person's thoughts.


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