Words Written In Italics

In the example you sited, the use of the italics draws attention to the single word and thust when you read it, you are suppose to stress that single word.

Be, I only use italics in stories where I want to show internal thoughts without all the he/she thought stuff noted.

In my current fantasy novel, I use italics to show mind-link between individual instead of showing it as dialogue. Therefore, I can not use the italics to show internal thoughs and have to rely on the old...he supposed, he thought, etc, etc.

Whatever device you use to stress a word or show something else, you should keep the use uniform and not mix the uses. IMHO. I read a detective novel once that used italics for many things and it got confusing on what the hell I was suppose to be seeing, reading, saying...

Italics are used this way to do the same job in print that a voice inflection does in speech. It directs and clarifies a specific meaning by emphasizing a word.

"I said you could have one cookie" (I already told you that you could) is slightly different than "I said you could have one cookie" (you, but not your friend) or "I said you could have one cookie" (a cookie, not a brownie).

Uswful, but like most things,should be used sparingly.