So, are single quotes, double quotes or italics most appropriate here? [closed]

Solution 1:

You're one hundred pages in and you haven't yet consulted your manual of style? If the person for whom you're proofreading hasn't mandated one, then you both should agree on one. I prefer the Chicago Manual of Style, which provides the following advice:

• Key terms or terms of art should be set in italic type on first reference and in roman thereafter:

  We must consider actual malice in US defamation law.

• Technical terms, especially when they appear with a definition are "often set" according to the rule above.

  The continuum is the cardinality of the real numbers.

• Word referred to as words, particular when they're terms "are commonly italicized":

  When I use the word roman in lower case, I'm talking about a type style and not a resident of the Italian city.

Be aware of the following considerations and exceptions to the above:

• Technical terms that conflict with standard usage are "often enclosed in quotation marks."

  The term "rent" in economics refers to excess payment in a transaction, and not money paid to landlords.

• Works of philosophy and theology prefer single quotes to italics or double quotes (with punctuation placed outside):

  Kant defines the opposite of 'transcendent' as 'immanent'.

• For words referred to as words within speech "quotation marks sometimes serve better":

  Beavis interrupted Butthead for a characteristic comment on the latter's use of the word "wood".

• If you're using quotation marks, be careful not to collide with their use to indicate irony.

  We "pacified" the villages with B-52 misssions.