I am writing an essay for school on the book The Wreck of the Whale-ship Essex for school. However, the Essex, as a ship, should also be italicized. Should I write it as “The Wreck of the Whale-ship Essex?” Answer This is a question of style, not grammar. You would write that in accordance with … Read more
Humans, naturally, prefer simple over complex. I would think that in the above sentence, both simple and complex are words used as words. (Though, perhaps, not as clear as it is in the preceding sentence.) Yet, I still feel confused. The source of my confusion is that I would not think of italicizing red and … Read more
When I want to emphasize a noun by italicizing, do I need to italicize the article of the noun or not? For example, is this correct? "Is it an apple?" "No, it is an orange." Or, is this correct? "Is it an apple?" "No, it is an orange." A similar question for the. It is … Read more
Writing a novel. Are the names of statues italicized in a books? Answer Style guides seem to be all over the place on this question. For example, The Oxford Guide to Style (2002), at section 6.3, comes out four-square for italics: Use italics for the titles of paintings, sculptures, and other works of art: [Relevant … Read more
I’d like to know when to use italics and when to use single quotation marks should be used. For example: The word he was looking for was ‘abjuration’. vs The word he was looking for was abjuration. Answer I consulted The Oxford Guide to Style (2002) to see what a style guide focused on British … Read more
I have the following sentence from the Time Magazine, which I use as an example sentence on a flashcard: At its best, Losers is a sluggish, stream-of-concupiscence exposition of what Sartre called nausea. I want to make clear that the complete title of the book is Beautiful Losers and that the author is Leonard Cohen. … Read more
I know, I know – similar questions have been asked before, but after reading so many answers here and elsewhere my intuitions have been scrambled and I have lost confidence in my normal practice… Stylistics originally developed out of what was known in the past as ‘rhetoric’. Stylistics originally developed out of what was known … Read more
I’m writing a report for my master thesis and I’m pretty unsure when to use italics. I have found some guidelines in the internet but I still have some questions. I’m using abbreviations like ROC for receiver operating characteristics and AUC for area under the curve or CSV for comma separated values. These abbreviations are … Read more
Scientific Nomenclature says that: Italics are used for bacterial and viral taxa at the level of family and below. All bacterial and many viral genes are italicized. Serovars of Salmonella enterica are not italicized When a sentence with a viral name is in an italicized environment (in a quote, in a reference list), should it … Read more
Can anyone tell me the reason vessel names, boats or spaceships for example, always appear in italics? Answer Depending on the style guide the author or company uses, they can appear either italicized or not. Most newspapers use AP Style, but companies like the NY Times have their own style manual, which is respectively similar … Read more
