Italics question

[Orrex]

If the last word of a sentence is italicized, is the subsequent punctuation mark likewise italicized?

[Gormy Cuss]

1. I think not.

The punctuation is outside of the italics, unless the entire sentence is italicized. These days with insta-formatting at our keyboards it's probably done incorrectly frequently. Heck, you could probably find an example of italicized punctuation in my DU posts.

[Orrex]

2. Makes sense

But sometimes the italicized word seems to run right into the exclamation point!

[Gormy Cuss]

5. And look!

I bumped your thread and figured that more people would weigh in.;-)

billyskank is right that typesetting was the framework for such rules. In long hand or with an old fixed font typewriter underlining would be used the way we use italics today.

also, InternalDialogue's post of the CMOS stance reflects a relatively recent change in their style guidelines.
http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/CMS_FAQ/Punctuation/Punctuation04.html


(on edit: If you ever want to distract me, post a question like this.)

[billyskank]

3. I think that's the wrong way to look at it.

This isn't a question of "correctness" because it's purely about formatting.

I don't know the answer, but I do know that typesetting is an extremely arcane art with many rules, and typesetting software is exceedingly complicated.

[InternalDialogue]

4. Chicago Manual sez:

6.3 All punctuation marks should appear in the same font -- roman or italic -- as the main or surrounding text, except for punctuation that belongs to the title or an exclamation in a different font.

6.5 Punctuation and font: alternative system. According to a more traditional system, periods, commas, colons, and semicolons should appear in the same font as the word, letter, or symbol immediately preceding them if different from that of the main or surrounding text.... Question marks and exclamation points, however, should appear in the same font as the immediately preceding word only if they belong to a title or an exclamation.