Quotation marks around single words can occasionally be used for emphasis, but only when quoting a word or term someone else used. Usually, this implies that the author doesn’t agree with the use of the term.
He said he was “working”; it looked to me like he was procrastinating.
You call this filthy room “clean”?!
When quotation marks are put around a word in this way, they are called scare quotes.
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Rules for quotation marks around a single word
The rules for using quotation marks around a single word for emphasis have changed since people began using word processors for their writing. If a word needs to be emphasized but is not being quoted, you should avoid putting the word in quotes and use italics instead. If you are writing by hand or using a typewriter, you can use quotation marks for emphasis to separate a certain word from the rest of the sentence—for example, when you are writing about words as words:
“They’re,” “their,” and “there” are easily confused because they’re hom*ophones.
“Cool” can refer to temperature, or it can mean something is good; “sweet” is also a slang term for “good.”
For further information on using quotation marks, check out our article Quotation Marks: Grammar Rules.
