Italics or quotation marks can highlight a
word or phrase used ironically or in an otherwise unconventional way.
Another form of diversification, bancassurance—tie-ups
between banks and insurance companies—is still all the rage
in Europe too.
Italics often signal a foreign word, until it
is common in English.
We are very reserved, for we have been warned not to act "green,"
that the city people can spot a "sucker" a mile away.
Nevertheless the simple statement stands: we are in the war. The
irony is that Hitler knows it-and most Americans don't.
Italics can stress a word, as if in speech.
The second comes from Vice-President Al Gore in 1992:
"Scientists concluded—almost unanimously—that
global warming is real and the time to act is now." (The italics
are ours.)
Some writers use italics to highlight words in
quoted material, adding a parenthetical—"(italics mine)"—or
similar notation.
