Using Quotation Marks for Emphasis?

A site visitor writes:

Is it acceptable to emphasize a point in an email with quotes? For example: The people on the Board are “elected” not appointed.

Anything you can do to ensure your intent and the meaning of your comments come through as intended is O.K. But quotation marks may not be the way to go for emphasis.

I don’t think the above is a good example of how to indicate emphasis. Generally putting words in quotes indicates the words are either a) an actual quote or b) noting a bit of sarcasm. In the above example I would take the use of quotes to mean that there may be some question in how they were elected or about the election — the sarcasm angle.

Nuances of perception with the written word in plain text can be tricky. Sarcasm should be avoided if possible as it is subjective and open to interpretation by the other side.

What I do for emphasis is use forward slashes, for example:

It is not that I care, it is that I care /too much/.

HTH!

Some More Info for You:

1. It’s All About Emphasis
2. Adding Emphasis Without Shouting
3. Stay Away from Sarcasm in Business E-mail
4. BEWARE: Red Means Red!
5. Business E-mail Bullies