The usage of inverted commas in British English

'head' refers to the right-hand element
'modifier' refers to the left-hand element

So in marble museum, museum is the head, whereas marble is the modifier.

The compound marble museum is a Noun + Noun construction.

Nat you can see how confusion might creep in where the reader assumes 'marble' to be adjective

But in academic writing, you use italics to cite a word/phrase, right?

E.g. the word stretecher means 'a type of bed used to carry sick people'.

You can use italics, or quotes, or bold, etc depending on the style guidance of the publisher or institution.

OK, thank you.

In a notebook, however, if I want to write the same sentence, should I do like this? Is it fine?

The word 'stretcher' means 'a type of bed used to carry sick people'.

That is fine. You can do whatever you want in a notebook, even use underlining or different colour ink. You need to understand the difference between a rule and a convention.

Thank you.

Nat again I must congratulate you once more for your interest in our goofy language and your determination. The esl, your Average Clod (me), and the old folk (me again) might have spent the better part of an hour deciphering your otherwise perfectly straightforward q

For instance, owing to my ignorance of the terms 'head' and I had interpreted it to ask whether or not you should place the 'a' before 'marble,' and wondering whether you were also concerned whether it should be in italic (which incidentally set me to wondering when one uses the singular or plural of that word). Only the kind patience on your part in further explanations resolved what you had meant by 'modifier,' ad I had interpreted that possibly to mean 'a' as a modifier of 'marble museum'....

...especially after " 'head' refers to the right-hand element [and]
'modifier' refers to the left-hand element," since some of us might have thought 'a' to be the one to the left

Note To TAATANE: Cmon fellas, I'm just sorta kiddin' for the chuckle value, which I realize, unfortunately, that you don't have

God but I'm a mean bastard

Again Nat most sincere admiration, fellow fussbudget and precisionist.

Note to Mgmt if you're listening: Please please please quit the practice of contiually cutting the box short every time, then in the middle of my editing effort, refusing me further work. For those bothered by my typos and apparent grammatical errors,

https://able2know.org/topic/366971-1