What does “Sic” mean? How to Properly Use It?

“Sic” is an adverb that has its origin in the Latin language, from which it translates as “so.” On the other hand, this adverb has another role. Namely, writers and editors can also use it when they want to point out grammatical or spelling mistakes in a quoted text.

There are several ways to write [sic] in the text, for example, in quoted text marks. Writers use [sic] when they do not want to simply paraphrase the original text (with appropriate attribution) but quote it directly. But the problem is that the information will be presented in a grammatically incorrect way, and the error in the original text will be pointed out.

What Does Sic Mean in a Sentence?

It means “deliberately thus written” when you use it in a sentence (in this context). The word “Sic” is typically capitalized and encircled by brackets to show that it was not included in the original. Place [sic] just after the mistake, and you should be fine. For example, you might want to quote some chapter or part of the textbook; that is a good time to use [sic].

History & Origin

It shortens the lengthy Latin expression “sic erat scriptum,” which means “as it had been written,” to “sic.” It was in the late 1850s when the word “sic” was first utilized as an adverb to denote deliberate spelling and grammar mistakes in the English language.

How to Properly Use [SIC]?

Sic can be italicized and is typically found in brackets or parentheses. They all mean the same thing. You use the abbreviation sic to indicate the problem by placing it immediately after the mistake if you wish to quote someone or something but discover the original material has a language fault. It demonstrates to your readers that it is a grammatical error, not just a typo.

If you are quoting material, you will transcribe it exactly as it appeared in the original, but you also want to point out the mistake in quoted text. That’s the proper way to use sic in a sentence.

Sic Sentence Examples

“They made there [sic] beds.”

We used [sic] in this sentence because there is a mistake for their. Therefore, “They made their beds” would have been the right sentence.

“Its [sic] lovely outside today.”

In this example, there is a mistake with the word “its.” The correct would have been “it’s” or “it is.”

The [Sic] Meaning—Summary

The Latin word “sic,” which is pronounced “sik,” is an adverb that signifies “so” or “thus” in English. It serves as a clue that anything was written wrongly and was purposefully left unchanged in the original.

The word [sic] indicates that the phrase or word that comes before it already appears in the material being cited. The quoted text may or may not be a grammatical error, depending on whether it uses unexpected terminology or wording.

When quoting text that contains errors from other stories or sources, journalists frequently use the [sic] symbol. They frequently use [sic] these days, especially when quoting social media posts like Tweets and comments on Facebook postings.