: Re: Is there a way to explain how a character said a word sarcastically without dialog tags? I have a character who is a talking shovel. He's arguing with another character and criticizing them.

@Moriarity138

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As far as the specific question of inflecting the word "asked," the entirely standard and acceptable way to do that is to put it in internal quotes. This is not an affectation, it is the technically correct way to indicate (in print) that a word is not being used in strict accord with its dictionary definition.

Beyond that, I'm going to be the contrarian voice, and say that as long as it isn't every other paragraph, the occasional "Tom Swifty"-ism of "he said, sarcastically," is perfectly fine. I'm in favor of anything that makes it easier for the reader to understand your writing without calling undue attention to itself.

"Oh! And let me take a wild guess," he said, sarcastically. "You’ve probably 'asked' the people who live around the jungle to harvest it and make the shirts for you without getting paid!"

As long as it doesn't become a nervous tic, or something you shoehorn in, it should be relatively transparent and invisible to the reader.

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