Italic/underline question

Shady Lane · Jun 28, 2007

This is nitpicking to the nth, but...okay.

How was I supposed to know?

Let's say I wanted to italicize or underline that sentence. Do I italicize/underline the question mark as well?

How was I supposed to know?
and
How was I supposed to know?

or

How was I supposed to know?
and
How was I supposed to know?

I know this is stupid, but it's driving me crazy.

Foinah · Jun 28, 2007

I always underline everything. The question mark is italicized in the formatted version (publication) right?
You could PM one of the Grammar grasshoppers and see what they say.

scarletpeaches · Jun 28, 2007

I underline the text and the punctuation marks too. I don't know whether this is form, but it 'looks' right to me.

Shady Lane · Jun 28, 2007

Thanks guys. You've protected me against an anuerysm.

rugcat · Jun 28, 2007

Foinah said:
I always underline everything. The question mark is italicized in the formatted version (publication) right?

That is correct.

Foinah · Jun 28, 2007

rugcat said:
That is correct.

Woohoo!!!!

ChunkyC · Jun 28, 2007

Yes, underline it. For such purposes, consider punctuation at the end of a sentence to be part of the last word.

reenkam · Jun 28, 2007

Does everyone actually underline in place of italics when sending out partials and fulls?

I feel like I should...but I think it looks bad so I don't...

ChunkyC · Jun 28, 2007

We've got threads galore on this -- always underline to indicate italics. It's a convention used throughout the publishing industry. One good reason for it is: if an editor wants to add italics where there are none, all he/she has to do is use their pencil to underline it. You can't very well change something on a printed page to actual italics with a pencil. So by underlining, it's consistent throughout the manuscript whether put there by you or by an editor marking up the page by hand.

Shady Lane · Jun 28, 2007

I remember when I was a kid writing on notebook paper and I wanted to italicize something, I'd turn the paper 45 degress and write like that for awhile.

janetbellinger · Jun 28, 2007

As far as I know, the punctuation marks are part of the sentence, so should be italicised or underlined if the rest of the sentence is.

rugcat · Jun 28, 2007

ChunkyC said:
We've got threads galore on this -- always underline to indicate italics. It's a convention used throughout the publishing industry. One good reason for it is: if an editor wants to add italics where there are none, all he/she has to do is use their pencil to underline it.

Another reason, also previously noted, is that a weary-eyed typesetter can easily fail to notice an italicized word, but an underline is harder to miss.

Italic/underline question

Shady Lane

my name is hannah

Foinah

Smoking Monkey Smart Arse

scarletpeaches

Shady Lane

my name is hannah

rugcat

Lost in the Fog

Foinah

Smoking Monkey Smart Arse

ChunkyC

It's hard being green

reenkam

aka cupcake

ChunkyC

It's hard being green

Shady Lane

my name is hannah

janetbellinger

rugcat

Lost in the Fog