definition of underline

Underlining is one of the techniques used by many people who, when they study a text, highlight with a striking color those parts of it that contain the main ideas. By underlining these main ideas, clearly differentiating from the secondary ones, the person can visualize the featured content. Underline is the phase prior to the realization of an outline or a conceptual map of a study topic. In addition, underlining is also done after having made several readings of the text.

Highlight parts of a text

These readings provide an understanding that allows you to underline with a criterion. To underline, you can draw a line under a word or a phrase using a pencil (this is effective for erasing and making modifications), pen, or a colored marker.

It is recommended that the color of the pen used to underline is not the same as the letter tone of the text, in order to be able to differentiate both aspects more clearly thanks to the contrast. The exercise of underlining a text provides an important saving of time to be able to review the content of a subject consulting only the parts selected in color.

Emphasize an idea

A speaker who makes a conference can also use the technique of underlining some words in his speech in order to emphasize some words more than others, pause at a certain moment or influence a specific aspect. In fact, in the spoken context, underlining an idea precisely means to emphasize, influence this aspect and qualify it in order to be able to better explain it to the interlocutor.

A person who underlines a point of view when he speaks is because he wants to make himself understood and also because he shows that this point of view is important. This type of nuances are common in dialogue contexts, for example, a television discussion, a work meeting or also, in a blog where readers can also make their own appreciations in the form of a comment.