JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground
HTML
<div>
000 000 000 000 <span><i></i>abc def ghi</span> 111 111 111.
</div>CSS
div { width: 175px; }
span { position: relative; background: yellow; }
i { position: absolute; top: 0px; left: -100px; right: 0px; bottom: 0px; outline: 3px solid red; }