Conditional formatting in BI Publisher for Word

I have a column in a report where the background is coloured Yellow if a condition is met

i.e.

<?old_est_wf_status?><?if:(old_est_wf_status!=new_est_wf_status)?><xsl:attribute xdofo:ctx="block" name="background-color">yellow</xsl:attribute><?end if?>

Is it possible to colour the background of the text only and not the cell.

We are currently doing this                  But want to do this

Highlighting cell

Highlighting word

Regards

Paul