Editing Encyclopedia:Manual of Style (section)

===Words as words===
{{Main|Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Text formatting#Words as words}}
{{for|the policy when a word or phrase itself may be an encyclopedic subject|WP:WORDISSUBJECT}}

Use italics when {{em|mentioning}} a word or character {{crossref|pw=y|(see [[Use–mention distinction]])}} or a string of words up to one sentence ({{xt|the term ''panning'' is derived from ''panorama''}}; {{xt|the most common letter in English is ''e''}}). When a whole sentence is mentioned, double quotation marks may be used instead, with consistency ({{xt|The preposition in ''She sat on the chair'' is ''on''}}; or {{xt|The preposition in "She sat on the chair" is "on"}}). Quotation marks may also be used for shorter material to avoid confusion, such as when italics are already heavily used in the page for another purpose (e.g., for many non-English words and phrases). {{em|Mentioning}} (to discuss grammar, wording, punctuation, etc.) is different from {{em|quoting}} (in which something is usually expressed on behalf of a quoted source). Quotation is done with quotation marks, never italics, nor both at once {{crossref|pw=y|(see {{section link||Quotations}} for details).}}

A closely related use of italics is when introducing or distinguishing terms: {{xt|The ''natural numbers'' are the integers greater than 0.}}