[82a.] Quoted titles of books, periodicals, and manuscripts are usually italicized.
- Right: I admire Shakespeare's Hamlet. [The italics make the reader know that the writer means, Hamlet the play, not Hamlet the man.]
- Right: John Galsworthy's novel, The Patrician, appeared in serial form in the Atlantic Monthly.
[Note 1.]—When the title of a book begins with an article (a, an, or the), the article is italicized. But the before the title of a periodical is usually not italicized.
[Note 2.]—It is correct, but not the best practice, to indicate the titles of books by quotation marks. The best method is to use italics for the title of a book, and quotation marks for chapters or subdivisions of the same book. Example: See Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. II, p. 427, "Modern Architecture".
[b.] Words from a foreign language, unless they have been anglicized by frequent use, are italicized.
- Right: A great noise announced the coming of the enfant terrible.
- Right: A play always begins in medias res.
[c.] The names of ships are usually italicized.
- Right: The Saxonia will sail at four o'clock.
[d.] Words taken out of their context and made the subject of discussion are italicized or placed in quotation marks.
- Right: So is a word faded and colorless from constant use.
- Right: The t in the word often is not pronounced.