You can format quotes: is this right? or is "this" right?
In other words, would you say
Like this or "Like this"?
I sometimes edit to make the change to the first.
You can format quotes: is this right? or is "this" right?
In other words, would you say
Like this or "Like this"?
I sometimes edit to make the change to the first.
Italic type has a few specific uses:
When quoting speech or writing, you should use quotation marks, not italics. When writing example phrases or sentences, you can use either.
I recommend against editing solely to adjust italic/quotation style, especially in the cases where either would be appropriate.
>
which is preferable to using quotation marks, especially for phrases and sentences.
In writing about language and languages, there are more conventions to follow.
A short list of how a professional uses the formatting available here can be found
at the end of this answer.
On this site, italics have a particular use, of mentioning the word rather than using it. If you want to know the etymology of the word elephant you don't, obviously, ask "What does elephant come from?" unless you want the answer "A mummy elephant". "What does "elephant" come from?" is not right either, since it refers to a quotation; presumably "Elephant!" came from somebody's unexpected meeting with an elephant. "What does 'elephant' come from?" is acceptable in normal speech, but on ELU there is more use of words-as-mention than most places, and also a divergence of opinion about straight quotes or curly quotes (as here), so the usual wording is "what does elephant come from?" This isn't as common in the outside world, though it's by no means unusual.
In my experience, quote marks if you know and can identify the author. Italics are fine for titles and unattributable sayings.