Italics Emphasis Quotes

The Dakota 38 refers to thirty-eight Dakota men who were executed by hanging, under orders from President Abraham Lincoln. To date, this is the largest “legal” mass execution in US history. The hanging took place on December 26, 1862—the day after Christmas. This was the same week that President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. --- These amended and broken treaties are often referred to as the Minnesota Treaties. The word Minnesota comes from mni, which means water; and sota, which means turbid. Synonyms for turbid include muddy, unclear, cloudy, confused, and smoky. Everything is in the language we use. -- Without money, store credit, or rights to hunt beyond their ten-mile tract of land, Dakota people began to starve. The Dakota people were starving. The Dakota people starved. In the preceding sentence, the word “starved” does not need italics for emphasis. -- Dakota warriors organized, struck out, and killed settlers and traders. This revolt is called the Sioux Uprising. Eventually, the US Cavalry came to Mnisota to confront the Uprising. More than one thousand Dakota people were sent to prison. As already mentioned,“Real” poems do not “really” require words. --- I am a citizen of the United States and an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, meaning I am a citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation—and in this dual citizenship, I must work, I must eat, I must art, I must mother, I must friend, I must listen, I must observe, constantly I must live.

Note how, within each, the preattentive attribute grabs your attention, and how some attributes draw your eyes with greater or weaker force than others (for example, color and size are attention grabbing, whereas italics achieve a milder emphasis).

every change in size, style, position, or alignment of type on a page indicates a shift in emphasis and implies meaning, whether intended or not. Generally, try to limit types to no more than three sizes or weights per page. And use bold or italic for emphasis without overusing them. You don’t want to use design elements willy-nilly—overemphasis (for instance, ALL BOLD CAPS) can end up being no more helpful than underemphasis,