How do you show thought?

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Puddle Jumper

Should I use single quotations marks, double, italisize it, nothing, or what? IE...

'I can't use it,' she thought.
"I can't use it," she thought.
I can't use it, she thought.
I can't use it, she thought.
 

maestrowork

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You underline instead of using italics in your ms. (considering you follow standard ms. formatting):

I can't use it, she thought.
 

rich

If we wouldn't, he/she wouldn't either.

I've also used quotations, but usually preceding or proceeding it with, -I thought-.

Both past muster and were not edited out when published.
 

veinglory

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I can't use it.

or

I can't use it, she thought.

And everyone pretty much knows thought without the tag from italics and content.
 

Haggis

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Is this one of those things that differs, based upon which side of the pond you live?
 

Jamesaritchie

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veinglory said:
I can't use it.

or

I can't use it, she thought.

And everyone pretty much knows thought without the tag from italics and content.
There's nothing wrong with using italics AND the tag. There are many reason italics are used. Thoughts are only one such use. It's generally clearer to use both, particularly the first time.

But I would never, ever write -- I can't use it, she thought--to indicate thought of the same nature as italicized thought.

Either thought is imnportant enough to stand out from narrative, or it isn't. If it is, there should be italics. If it isn't, the thought shouldn't be there at all.
 

Cat Scratch

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It depends on what type of narrative you're using, or how closely you're in that character's head. If you're using an omnicient narrator, a thought tag may be necessary or else the leap into the character's head is jarring. But if you're using a more intimate third-person narrative where you're already viewing the world from this characters POV it isn't necessary because essentially everything we're witnessing is her thought.
 
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