[stylist] stylist Digest, Vol 81, Issue 6

[Kerry Thompson]

Hi friends,

Welcome, Julie!

There is a convention that thoughts are set in italics. Apostrophes or 
inverted commas, on the other hand, are for quotes within quotes. Thus, 
as I understand it, these rules would work out in practice like this.

/What a drag/, Rick thought. (where what Rick thinks is in italics).

"Hey, Carol," Ida said. "Cissy says 'hi!'" (where what Ida says is in 
ordinary, double quotes and what she reports Cissy as saying is in 
single quotes or inverted commas).

But, to be certain, check out Strunk and White (that is /The Elements of 
Style/) or /The Chicago Manual of Style/, the two universally recognized 
authorities onmatters of grammar and style.

As to a recollected dialog, I don't know what to do with that. Perhaps 
italicize and enclose in quotes? The problem doesn't often arise, 
though, because most often a recollection is of an indirect quote, like 
this:

John remembered that Rita said she would meet him in the lobby.

I suppose you could do it with direct quote, like this:

John remembered Rita saying, "I'll meet you in the lobby, darling."

In that case, it seems to me you use ordinary double quotes but no 
italics, since it's not the act of remembering that's crucial here but 
the scrap of dialogue. But it would be best to check Strunk and White or 
Chicago.

Judith, another problem is that Brits and Americans have different 
conventions when it comes to quotation marks. If you've used Dickens as 
your model, you'll run into a whole lot of flack from any 
editor/publisher you submit your book to. Believe me, it's a whole lot 
less stressful to conform to American conventions from the start.

Solidarity and Peace,

Kerry