Why is part of text's background is white color and I can't change it?

[mrMad-Cat]

Hi! A question of my curiosity.

I received a document, where part of text has white background. And it does not come from paragraph color, and is not highlighted. It's not some textbox or table. Not an object. I don't seem to find any special effects related to it.
So I'm dying to understand where does it come from?

I understand that I can fix this by clearing formats or by coping, but I'm really interested in understanding where it all comes from.

PS: I predict the answer is pretty simple, but... )

[macropod]

Your white background is the result of someone using the borders & shading tool (Home|Paragraph|Borders>Borders and Shading>Shading>Fill) to apply a white background. You can undo it by giving a 'No Fill' background. Alternatively, select the affected text and press Ctrl-Spacebar.

[mrMad-Cat]

Oh, you are right, it is paragraph shading after all!
Now I see the problem. It is in Word's current strange mechanics. Not sure if it was the same before.
When you select more text than just that white affected one (for example by selecting the whole paragraph) and apply any other shading color, then it won't be applied to the part with another color. You have to select specifically the symbols that are affected and change the color for them. Or you have first to match the color of the whole paragraph with the color of that part of the text, and then you can change it to any other.