WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Grammar Minute: Getting Readers' Attention

Episode Date: November 19, 2024

How can you emphasize a word or phrase for readers—without the dreaded italics? Learn more on today's episode of Grammar Minute!

Welcome to the Grammar Minute, where we're saving the English language 60 seconds at a time. I'm Lawrence Smith and I have some exciting news. Pre-orders for my fourth book, a science fiction novel called WarSafe, Open Today. This is all very fun and will be a big party online. If you want to join in, you can find more information at laurenthsmithbooks.com, and that's Smith spelled with a Y. As excited as I am, however, I still have to use good grammar to create emphasis. So what are some grammatically correct ways to draw a reader's attention to

a word or phrase. All caps are a bad idea. Multiple exclamation points are iffy and possibly annoying. Italics are okay as long as they're not overused. Bolding is aggressive. The best and most professional way to create emphasis is to structure your sentence to point at the thing you want noticed. This typically includes putting the important point at the beginning. Do not have multiple important points in the same sentence and keep sentences short. That's your grammar minute.