In HTML, which tag is appropriate for emphasizing text?

The tag that is appropriate for emphasizing text in HTML is . This tag semantically indicates that the text should be emphasized, which often affects how it is rendered by browsers and how it is interpreted by assistive technologies, such as screen readers. By using , you convey to the reader and the browser that the content within this tag is important or has a certain emphasis in context, which can also influence the tone or meaning of a sentence.

In contrast, the tag is typically used to simply style text to appear bold without conveying any additional importance or emphasis, and is used to italicize text, often for stylistic purposes. The tag indicates strong importance, but it is used for different contexts compared to , which is more about emphasis rather than strength. Thus, is the correct choice for indicating emphasized text specifically.