On 4/24/05, John Blumel <johnblumel(a)earthlink.net> wrote:
"The
<i>Defiant</i> is a tough little ship."
"<em>Little?</em>" --
From <cite>Star Trek: First Contact</cite>
See the difference? The ship name, "Defiant" is italicized, but
that's purely a question of style.
The reason "Defiant" is italicized is that it is being emphasized
because it's the name of a ship. "Purely a question of style," in this
instance, means "Customary to emphasize."
No, I don't agree that that is "emphasis" in the general meaning of
that term. It doesn't mean "'Defiant' is the most important word in
this sentence", it means "'Defiant' is different kind of word from the
others in this sentence". That's not emphasis, it's distinction.
To put it even more bluntly, this is a good example where it is
customary to use italics in print, but it would *not* sound correct to
emphasis that word in speech. In other words, it is customary to
*italicise*, but not customary to *emphasise*.
--
Rowan Collins BSc
[IMSoP]