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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/5955
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/5955
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

...it looks _rude_? I have never heard of italics being called "rude." Your friend is full of it.

Both your examples are perfect exactly as they are. The first one is a brief interior monologue, set off by formatting. The second uses italics for emphasis.

Single quotes (or single inverted commas) are, as you correctly stated, used for nested quoted material (dialogues within dialogues). Quotes can be used to refer to something mockingly, or to indicate that something has an inferior, parody, or so-called status:

> We went down the "easy" road, which was just as steep and strewn with boulders as the "hard" road.
> 
> Norrington sneered, "When does 'Captain' Sparrow arrive?"

You will note the second example does not have the same meaning as this:

> Norrington sneered, "When does _Captain_ Sparrow arrive?"

In the first one, Norrington's implication is that Sparrow has taken the title of Captain without earning it. In the second, Sparrow is legitimately captain, but Norrington doesn't want to acknowledge it and probably called him "Mister" in the previous exchange and was corrected.

Do not make the common mistake of thinking that quotes just mean emphasis. For example:

> Big Sale on "Sneakers" Today!

is completely and entirely WRONG. The only possible way that statement is correct if if "Sneakers" refers to something which is actually not a shoe but has the brand name of Sneakers (for example, if it were a bookstore selling a series of books with titles like _Sneaker of the House, Sneaker in the Back, Sneaker with Sally in the Alley,_ and so on).

Original score: 7