Using Emphasis
There once was workshop presenter whose little promotion book was packed full of text, much of it underlined, bolded, and in italics. It was so packed, I wasn’t sure what to focus on, the words or the emphasis. His presentations on screen were similar — too much information!
I believe this person sincerely wished to help others starting out in business. But let’s not go that route. Editors are taught to use emphasis strategically. Good writing has its own strength. For this month’s newsletter, I will focus on using emphasis appropriately in three areas: italics, exclamation marks, and superlatives.
Italics
In typewriter days, titles of books were underlined. With the use of word processing programs on computers, the rules shift. Now italics are used for titles of books, like this: “Alice Kuiper’s book, World’s Worst Parrot.” To add the link so readers can find the book, highlight the word, embed the link, and it will show up as underlining.
Another use for italics is for words in your text from another language. If you’re writing a story, and the character speaks in French, German, or Spanish, for example, that word would be put in italics. The character says danke (thank you) when she has just been given a gift. Be sure that the meaning is clear to your readers.
Similarly, italics are used when a writer wants to use the botanical name for a plant family. For example, “In my garden, I have a low-growing perennial, commonly known as bearberry, but its actual name is uva ursi arctostaphylos.”
Exclamation Mark
Highly overused on Facebook, but also appearing in emails and manuscripts, the exclamation mark is best used as a single unit, and only in cases of extreme emergency. Such as “Get off the road!” More than one mark makes it feels like the writer is screaming at their readers. For business email,share information in a concise and business-like manner.
Superlatives
Superlatives are adjectives in the extreme. “A very, very hot day” might be rewritten as “the kind of heat that wilts flowers and humans alike.”
A similar case might be made for the words just, such and really. It may not mean using fewer words, but the ones that describe the situation best. For example, “I really, really love ice cream” can be changed to “Ice cream is my favourite.”
I tell my writing students to first get the words down on the paper. Set it aside for a week or two, then go back and begin to edit. Look at grammar, word usage, punctuation, and flow of the writing. When you’ve done all that, share with writing partners and help each other.
Resource
Here’s an article about words that get overused. It may be helpful to you as you revise.
What words or punctuation do you tend to overuse?
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