Quotation Marks Around Letters of the Alphabet
The Quotation Mark
Rulebase Summary
Use quotation marks around letters of the alphabet if they are not capitalized or if they are likely to be misread. Capitalized letters generally do not need quotation marks unless they could be confused with words. The exception is words like 'nth degree' — do not put quotes around 'nth' because it functions as a word.
Examples
A. Look at the material opposite the letter m on Exhibit 6.
A. Look at the material opposite the letter 'm' on Exhibit 6.
Lowercase letter — use quotation marks.
A. Your 'a' looks like an 'o.'
A. Your 'a' looks like an 'o.'
Lowercase letters likely to be misread — quote them.
Transcript Notes
When the letter usually stands for a common noun or verb, no quotation marks are needed even when capitalized. For example, 'She's the boss, with a capital B.' — no quotes because B stands for the word it represents.
Style Guide References (1)
Morson's