How to Teach Underlining and Italicizing to Children

Underlining and italicizing is a basic grammar concept.

Underlining and italicizing are used to create emphasis and denote a proper title. However, depending on the piece of writing, one technique may be better than the other. A student should choose which she prefers in a piece of writing and stick to it for the entirety of the piece. A teacher helps a student decide which technique is best by demonstrating the use of each in a sentence.

Instructions

1. Create a simple sentence that contains a proper title, such as the name of a book, or which includes a phrase that needs emphasis.

2. Write the sentence on a chalkboard or other surface that all the children can see. Underline the title or phrase and explain why you chose to underline that text.

3. Write another sentence on the board with a title or phrase that needs to be underlined. Ask the students to tell you which words need to be underlined.

4. Type a sentence into a word processing program and italicize a title or phrase inside of it. Print the page and pass it around the classroom.

5. Ask the students to type the same sentence and guide them through highlighting the phrase and italicizing it using the word processing program if you have computers inside the classroom.

6. Explain the difference between each method and why a student would choose one over the other. For example, handwritten assignments use underlining, while a typed assignment may use italicizing.

References

• Capital Community College Foundation: Using Italics and Underlinling
• English Plus: Underlining or Italicizing Titles
• National Capital Language Resource Center: Teaching Grammar