When emphasizing a phrase (such as "a lot"), should the whole phrase, or part, be italicized?

Question

Which of the following is the better way to do italics? To help you distinguish the two examples better, I'm adding bold in addition to italics here:

The two liked each other a lot.

The two liked each other a lot.

I'm editing a book in which the author took the first approach, italicizing just the word "lot." However, I could see the argument made that "a lot," constituting a single phrase, should be italicized in its entirety. Is either option fine, or is one preferable?

Answer 1

The usual approach is to italicise the words that we are supposed to "hear" as pronounced with added emphasis.

If you were to say the sentence out loud, would it feel natural to stress the article too? I'm guessing probably not.

And if you write the whole phrase in italics, that's how I hear it when reading.