Which method for WHOLE SENTENCE emphasis?

[Ysoi]

The point of this poll is to find out which form of WHOLE SENTENCE emphasis you would rather read. Do you think that extra punctuation is fine? (E.g. "?!" / "!!" / "?.." / "!.." <- note maximum three dots) Would you rather see bold or italics or all/small-caps, or do you have your own method?

Please let me know!

(Please note, I intend to ask the same question about single word emphasis asap - as that removes the punctuation options.)

Ysoi

 

[sun_sea_sky]

Italics.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Again, are we talking about fiction or forum conversation?

In the forum, I put an important sentence onto its own line.

In fiction, I am not sure how important a sentence would have to be to be emphasized so much. A light touch with effects makes a better story-- like film actors, who learn to underplay because the camera will pick up so much nuance.

 

[Ysoi]

Again, are we talking about fiction or forum conversation?

Fiction.
Too be honest I hadn't considered asking ref the forum!

Ysoi

 

[Ysoi]

My thoughts ref whole sentence emphasis

Extra punctuation - Easy on the eyes, for me at least. I just make sure not to go above 3 dots. (?!... -> ?!. -> ?.. / !.. )

Bold - looks odd when long sentences are emphasised right next to normal sentences.

Italics - As with bold, plus I sometimes find italics hard to recognise.

ALL CAPS ARE ALL I NEED - not for whole sentences - just looks too noob.

Sentence Caps Rule - never actually tried it, but suspect it would look noob / like a long series of typos. (Or a Nigerian scam!)

_Underline_me_baby._ - I think it would just look odd.

Ysoi

 

[SamScribble]

Yeah. What Stella said.

 

[Boxlicker101]

I would rarely emphasize a whole sentence, unless it was only one or two words. However, if it is dialogue and is is shouting, I might use caps. At least I would try itand see how it looks in context. I would never do anything to emphasize whole sentnces in narrative. I might emphasize single words.

Drill sergeant bawling out a recruit:

"SOJER, GET YER HEAD OUTA YER ASS!"

"YES SIR!"

Even then, I would try to avoid overdoing it, possibly by breaking in with narrative.

 

[sr71plt]

Italics. It would have to be a very short sentence for me to think it all needed to be emphasized, though.

 

[sun_sea_sky]

In the forum, I put an important sentence onto its own line.

Someone whose name starts with S puts important sentences into 60-point type. And then they get ignored.

 

[Handley_Page]

I think it depends upon what is happening or the context.

 

[oggbashan]

Again it depends on the context but like Stella I might put the sentence on its own with a line break before and after.

Or - radical idea - use the choice of words to emphasise the importance of the sentence.

 

[ishtat]

If I was tempted to add emphasis to a whole sentence I would think that it indicated that it probably needed re-writing, but as sr71plt suggested, italics might be ok for very short sentences.

 

[Stella_Omega]

...
Or - radical idea - use the choice of words to emphasise the importance of the sentence.

Oh my gosh, what a concept!

There seems to be a trend amongst my friends to italicise the last verb in a sentence, and for no good reason that I can find.

"As the orgasmic tremors slowed down, she looked up at me and sighed."

I've started asking people to stop that.

 

[Ysoi]

Or - radical idea - use the choice of words to emphasise the importance of the sentence.

When I'm talking about emphasis, it's often for those times when I believe that a character might emphasise the word as they were saying it.

E.G.

("Um, how do you suppose I insert that into this?")
"I didn't think it would be that huge!"

("Um, how do you suppose I insert that into this?")
"I didn't think it would be that huge!"

Which of those two makes you think, "woah, that really is huge"?

Ysoi

 

[Ysoi]

"As the orgasmic tremors slowed down, she looked up at me and sighed."

I've started asking people to stop that.

Apologise if you wrote that for no reason other than humour, but I can easily think of situations where what happens before or after that sentence justifies the emphasis.

E.g.
"And with that, I knew that yet again and despite my boasts to the contrary, I had failed to make her climax."

Of course, without the before / after it's impossible to judge that one sentence.

Ysoi

 

[Boxlicker101]

When I'm talking about emphasis, it's often for those times when I believe that a character might emphasise the word as they were saying it.

E.G.

("Um, how do you suppose I insert that into this?")
"I didn't think it would be that huge!"

("Um, how do you suppose I insert that into this?")
"I didn't think it would be that huge!"

Which of those two makes you think, "woah, that really is huge"?

Ysoi

I think it would work better if you said: "I didn't think it would be THAT big!" or: I didn't think it would be so HUGE!" "Huge" is already an extreme, so putting an emphasis before it seems redundant.

 

[oggbashan]

When I'm talking about emphasis, it's often for those times when I believe that a character might emphasise the word as they were saying it.

E.G.

("Um, how do you suppose I insert that into this?")
"I didn't think it would be that huge!"

("Um, how do you suppose I insert that into this?")
"I didn't think it would be that huge!"

Which of those two makes you think, "woah, that really is huge"?

Ysoi

This one: "woah, that really is huge."

 

[sr71plt]

For the U.S. market, there is an authoritative answer to this--in the Chicago Manual of Style. It would be italics. I don't have my references with me as I'm on a foreign vacation, but if people are still fumbling around on personal preference when I get home, I can cite the CMS section on this (not that anyone will pay attention to an authoritative answer to the question. ).

 

[Stella_Omega]

Apologise if you wrote that for no reason other than humour, but I can easily think of situations where what happens before or after that sentence justifies the emphasis.

E.g.
"And with that, I knew that yet again and despite my boasts to the contrary, I had failed to make her climax."

Of course, without the before / after it's impossible to judge that one sentence.

Ysoi

Sure, but there is still no reason to italicise the sigh.

 

[Ysoi]

Sure, but there is still no reason to italicise the sigh.

If by "the sigh" you mean "sighed" from your original example, then I would have to reply : Unless the whole point is that rather than what the actor was hoping for or expecting, she sighed instead. She didn't smile / offer congratulations / offer thanks as had been expected, but sighed instead.

"And then, at the point where I had been expecting her to congratulate on achieving what so many before me had failed to do, my lover instead sighed, and with that I knew that I had joined the ranks of those who had gone before me."

Ysoi

 

[lovecraft68]

For the U.S. market, there is an authoritative answer to this--in the Chicago Manual of Style. It would be italics. I don't have my references with me as I'm on a foreign vacation, but if people are still fumbling around on personal preference when I get home, I can cite the CMS section on this (not that anyone will pay attention to an authoritative answer to the question. ).

I think I'm going to buy one of these things on e-bay. It'll read like stereo instructions to me, but what the hell I could probably learn enough to make it worth the money.

 

[lovecraft68]

I have often used italics to emphasize a word, but not usually a sentence.

"Well, yes, you would say that."

 

[Ysoi]

You've misread the question

For the U.S. market, there is an authoritative answer to this--in the Chicago Manual of Style. It would be italics. I don't have my references with me as I'm on a foreign vacation, but if people are still fumbling around on personal preference when I get home, I can cite the CMS section on this (not that anyone will pay attention to an authoritative answer to the question. ).

Actually, you cannot give an authoritative answer to the question that I posed - unless the manual states what each of the responders personally prefers to read.

Having said that, thank you for your input! I was hoping that someone would mention that manual or some other nationalities equivalent. Does the manual distinguish between whole sentence emphasis and single/multi word emphasis?

As I mentioned above, for me long lines of italics / bold look odd when right next to ordinary text, so in those situations I might go for the extra punctuation option. For the way in which my characters tend to speak, (disbelief and questioning) that normally involves using "?!" rather than just "?", but I can imagine "!!" might look odd...

Ysoi

 

[Ysoi]

I have often used italics to emphasize a word, but not usually a sentence.

"Well, yes, you would say that."

In which case, lovecraft68, in which way would you do a whole sentence? Would like to hear what method other people prefer to read / write if possible. m(_ _)m

Ysoi

 

[sun_sea_sky]

If the medium lets you use italics/bold then I would use those. Just using all caps, or lots of exclamation marks, looks to me like a throwback to the days of emails when they were pure text.

I voted for italics, but I admit I use bold from time to time. I think bold is more emphatic than italics (and is also more distracting).

Bold is close to shouting, for me, so I would restrict that to a single word, especially if that word was in a "shouting" sort of context.