Q. How do you set apart a word as a word in a sentence? As in “We are all aware the word fat could be offensive.” Would fat be in quotes, italicized, or just left alone?
A. Words used as words must be set off somehow—otherwise the meaning of the sentence can become ambiguous or even unintentionally funny:
He wrote the essay using fat instead of lard.
It was ironic that the misspelled word was right.
He wrote the essay using fat instead of lard.
It was ironic that the misspelled word was “right.”
Chicago favors italics, but quotation marks are also fine.