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italics: emphasis

Italics can serve to indicate emphasis in the following cases:

  • when the writer uses an unexpected word:
    • What differences might we expect to see in human behaviour if honesty were shown to be the worst policy?
  • when two words are contrasted:
    • I did not say we would go: I said we might go.
  • when the writer wishes to stress a word that would not normally be stressed in the sentence:
    • Why was he chosen to chair the committee?