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Q&A Indicating a word choice you're unsure of

I've often had situations where I'm unsure of the correct word to be used, either when writing or proofreading. How can this sense be indicated in writing? Someone mentioned adding a question mark ...

4 answers  ·  posted 10y ago by wzub‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T03:25:41Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/10519
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar wzub‭ · 2019-12-08T03:25:41Z (almost 5 years ago)
I've often had situations where I'm unsure of the correct word to be used, either when writing or proofreading. How can this sense be indicated in writing? Someone mentioned adding a question mark just before it to indicate that the writer is unsure of that particular word. For example:

> These were not simply sewage treatment workers, but an elite ?cadre of sewage treatment workers

Here the word in question is cadre, and we're trying to indicate that the writer is aware that's not the perfect word to use in the situation.

Is this a generally accepted way of indicating such a thing? I haven't seen it often enough to make me think so, but it feels better than placing the question mark after the word, which might make it read like a question instead.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2014-03-15T22:00:40Z (over 10 years ago)
Original score: 4