Literary notes about underscore (AI summary)
In literature, the term "underscore" is employed both as a literal mark and as a metaphorical device. In certain texts, it functions as a typographic tool to indicate italics or to emphasize a particular word or phrase, as noted when an author uses an underscore to denote emphasis in a passage [1][2][3]. In other contexts, it signals textual corrections or formatting details—such as the use of a gray or dashed underscore to point out amendments [4][5][6]—and even extends to technical notations like marking subscripted numbers within formulas [7]. Additionally, the word appears in narrative and rhetorical contexts where it enhances dramatic moments or highlights significant ideas [8][9][10], and is used pedagogically to guide readers through grammatical or compositional structures [11][12][13].
- I have used the underscore notation to indicate italics.
— from A Sicilian Romance by Ann Ward Radcliffe - Your cursor is a small underscore or rectangle that indicates where you're typing; it should move as you type.
— from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving - Italics are transcribed with the underscore character at the beginning and end.
— from The Lutherans of New YorkTheir Story and Their Problems by George Unangst Wenner - See http://www.archive.org/details/banshee_00odon Text with a gray underscore indicates the site of a correction.
— from The Banshee by Elliott O'Donnell - The corrected words are shown with a light underscore like this: continue .
— from Sword and PenVentures and Adventures of Willard Glazier by John Algernon Owens - They appear in the text, with red underscore, like this , and the explanation will appear when the cursor is moved over the marked text.
— from Hoyle's Games Modernized by Professor Hoffmann - Subscripted numbers are preceded by an underscore, as in the formula for water “H_2O”.
— from The Making of Species by Frank Finn - Then rather reflectively he added: "It is as though he were to underscore his protest—in red."
— from Mysterious Japan by Julian Street - A little flock of sheep had come up from the valley, and the soft little noises of cropping seemed only to underscore the silence.
— from Saturday's Child by Kathleen Thompson Norris - Puccini's strength lies in the truly impressive manner in which he is able to intensify and underscore the more dramatic moments in the action.
— from Aspects of Modern Opera: Estimates and Inquiries by Lawrence Gilman - In the following sentences underscore the nouns with a single line, the verbs with two lines: They man the boats.
— from Plain English by Marian Wharton - Exercise 4 Underscore all the verbs and verb phrases in the following quotation.
— from Plain English by Marian Wharton - Exercise 1 Underscore all of the adjectives in the following quotation.
— from Plain English by Marian Wharton
