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Quotation marks or italics? His last words were "clock" and "good-bye." Clock and good-bye are used as words and are not quotations, but they are not unusual or in need of emphasis so I don't see the reason for italics. If the answer is personal preference, is one choice more popular, more formal than the other? I could not find a clear answer on here so I thought I would ask. The English Usage Stack Exchange site is amazingly useful. Many thanks to all who contribute.

Falls Church
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    It's a matter of definition that the words are a quotation. Words-as-words need marking as such by emphasis, but that can be either italics or surrounding quotation marks (or green print, if you like). Style guides will perhaps tell you which one to use here, but they are guides, not autocracies. You may wish to buck the trend anyway to indicate that you're focusing attention on the actual two words involved rather than the fact that X spoke them, in which case the italics are probably better than the usual speech marks. – Edwin Ashworth Oct 18 '19 at 16:33

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If I understand your question correctly, you're asking for the proper way to denote that two specific words were those said by someone: quotation marks or italics.

The answer to your question is ... Either.

Quotation marks are perfectly appropriate for reported speech. It doesn't require a proper sentence for quotation marks to be appropriate. He just said "yup" to all my questions.

Italics likewise set apart speech. They do this by the typeface change making it clear what you're trying to denote as different from the rest of the sentence structure. In this case, you're using the context for the reader to know it's reported speech.

In the end, it comes down to style. What you think looks best and conveys your meaning best.

As Edwin Ashworth points out in comments, many prescriptive style manuals will make specific recommendations. But, recommendations are just that. No one will find your intentions indecipherable should you pick one vs the other.

David M
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It depends on whether you are describing reported speech or word used as words. The first uses quotations, while the second is either underlined or italicized, to differentiate it from reported speech, according to both the Chicago and MLA style manuals. There's a subtle difference between the two usages, where the first is journalistic while the second is more like a dictionary reference.

Philly
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Of course they are quotations, that's the definition of "his words were"

vectory
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  • Based upon what other than your gut feeling .... – David M Oct 18 '19 at 18:33
  • @DavidM if you need a textbook definition of what a quote is, you might consult with ELL or look it up yourself. However, you seem to have a handle on the language, so what seems to be the holdup? – vectory Oct 18 '19 at 18:48
  • They're quotations to be certain. Why do you feel that all quotations need quotation marks. I told him: yes. – David M Oct 18 '19 at 18:49
  • "@DavidM, I told him over AIM: you are an idiot." -- Who's the idiot? Of course, not all quotes are polar like that, and if Plato is quoted, then rarely in the original Greek. – vectory Oct 18 '19 at 19:20
  • Ah. I see your angle now. You're taking issue with him saying they're not quotations. Not that they require quotation marks. So, perhaps this is a comment and not an answer since you didn't answer the basic question: quote marks or italics? – David M Oct 18 '19 at 19:24