Question

Read the sentence. Choose the correct answers for the questions that follow it.

The judge, believing the boy to be innocent, acquitted him.

What kind of phrase is italicized?


What does it modify?

Answer 1

Are there answer choices?

Answer 2

which phrase is italicized?

Answer 3

A phrase is italicized either to add emphasis, or to distinguish that part of the phrase from something that came before. For example:

For emphasis, you could write: "You told him WHAT?" [capitals = italics]
If the context is something like "The jury thought he was guilty as anything," the sentence might be, "The JUDGE (believing the boy to be innocent) acquitted him."

This contrasts the jury's opinion with that of the judge and his actions.

Alternatively, the emphasis could be on 'innocent'. E.g. "Everyone said the boy way guilty." The judge (believing the boy to be INNOCENT) acquitted him."

P.s. you don't need commas before and after the brackets. The brackets function as commas here.