Canadian Style Tip #22: Reference to words as such

This post is part of the Canadian Style series.

8.11 Reference to words as such

When referring to a word’s form rather than its meaning, use quotation marks to draw the reader’s attention; although most writers prefer to place such words in italics. Just be consistent. Words being defined, French terms, and foreign words are set in italics, and their definition/translation are set in quotations marks.

The French word stylo means “pen.”

By Kim Siever

I am a copywriter and copyeditor. I blog on writing and social media tips mostly, but I sometimes throw in my thoughts about running a small business. Follow me on Twitter at @hotpepper.

2 comments

  1. Periods and commas go inside quotation marks in Canadian.

    Your example is complex, as the actual practice in linguistics is to run the foreign phrase and gloss together with no intervening punctuation and also, in all cases everywhere, to use single quotes: he preferred the French stylo ‘pen’

  2. “Periods and commas go inside quotation marks in Canadian.”

    Good catch.

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