Intermediate English Grammar for ESL Learners - Robin Torres-Gouzerh 2016

Italics
24 Capitalization, numbers, and italics

Italics are used to make a word or group of words stand out in order to give them emphasis.

Notre Dame de Paris is an amazing cathedral.

Generally, a word processor is used to create italic text, but in handwriting, it is common to underline words that ordinarily would be italicized.

Italics are often used to indicate the titles of books, newspapers, magazines, plays, lengthy poems, comic strips, software, paintings, sculpture, movies, and genus/species references.

Italics are also used to set off foreign words adapted into English. Most of these words and phrases are still italicized, because they remain foreign to most English speakers.

Some foreign words, however, are not italicized, because they have been integrated into English and are commonly used. This generally happens after widespread adoption and use by the mass media and the publishing industry. The following list includes some of these words.

Italics are used to identify court cases.

Brown v. Board of Education

Roe v. Wade

Italics are used in algebraic expressions.

X - Y = 23

Italics are used for the names of spacecraft, satellites, and ships.

Sputnik was launched into orbit this morning from a base in Kazakh SSR.

Launched in 1959, Vanguard 2 helped to map the shape of the earth.

Sink the Bismarck!

Exercise 24.4 Rewrite each sentence, using correct capitalization and italicization. Also, rewrite numbers that are used incorrectly.

1. We installed windows vista on our desktop today.

2. Jason’s spanish literature class read Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote.

3. They reviewed the case of The People v. Robert Page Anderson for their law class.

4. He invited ten of his closest friends, but more than ninety people showed up.

5. Did you get a copy of the atlantic monthly?

6. The lawyer working on Miller v. Wilson offered his services pro bono.

7. The baton rouge advocate gave us information about visiting the garden district.

8. The detective speculated about the criminal’s modus operandi.