Revised as of
29 June 2023
It’s a sight for sore eyes when I have to cite an author for improper use of a site. And it happens much too often. In fact, it happens so often that I’m starting to get confused with this trio of heterographs. I need to create a base site from which I can rebuild my sense of what’s right.
In general, think of cite as something written while sight is something you look at or through. As for site, you can’t go wrong if you think of building, whether it’s an office tower, a stadium, a website, or where a physical object is located.
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.
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| Cite | Sight | Site |
|---|---|---|
Example of a Bibliography is Mister.mansour‘s own work and is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. — An example of formatting assistance when one must cite one’s sources. |
Sniperscope is a US Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Ryan Walker (<http://www.navy.mil/view_image.asp?id=14702>), which is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. — Looking through the sight of a USMC sniper rifle’s scope at a practice range in Camp Hansen. |
Building Site New RLUH, 30 April 2013, is John Bradley‘s own work and was uploaded by Commonist is under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. |
| Part of Grammar: | ||
| Noun 1; Verb, transitive 1, 2 Plural for the noun: citations Third person present verb: cites |
Noun 1; Verb 2, intransitive & transitive Plural for the noun: sights Third person present verb: sights |
Noun 1; Verb, transitive 2
Plural for the noun: sites Third person present verb: sites |
| Noun: A citation 1 Verb, transitive:
[Law summon] Of someone to appear in a court of law 2 |
Noun: Faculty or power of seeing 1 Area or distance within which someone can see or something can be seen A thing that one sees or that can be seen Having a ridiculous, repulsive, or disheveled appearance A device on a gun or optical instrument used for assisting a person’s precise aim or observation Verb, intransitive:
Verb, transitive:
|
Noun: Area of ground on which a town, building, or monument is constructed 1
A website Short for building site Verb, transitive: |
| Examples: | ||
| Noun: He just checked the cites and published the opinions unchanged. Soon, no doubt, there will be cites in Latin and Greek, maybe even a quotation from Gilgamesh. I’m not into this enough to get cites; maybe someone else is. Verb, transitive: He does not cite any source for this assertion. Medics have been cited as a key example of a modern breed of technical expert. He has been cited many times for his contributions in the intelligence area. The summons cited four of the defendants. She was cited, promised to appear at a March 27 court hearing in Malibu, and then released about 1:00 am on January 27. In one month, 500 police officers were cited, 280 were called but only five gave evidence. |
Noun: The sight of blood terrifies him. You’re a sight for sore eyes! Would you like to see the sights here in town? Sights for rifles vary considerably. Verb, intransitive: He had to sight along the planks in the proper order to get the line right. You can also check the alignment of the posts in one direction by sighting from one end of the row of posts to the other. Verb, transitive: The unseasonal sighting of a cuckoo. You’d better sight on your target. Tell me when you sight shore! She sighted her target. |
Noun: Check out that site I told you about. It’s the proposed site for a new power plant. Have you been to the site of the Battle of Antietam yet? Materials for repairs are always on site. The site has no ads and is not being promoted with banners. Some servers use cookies to track users from site to site. Verb, transitive: Decisions must be made concerning the siting of nuclear power plants. In countries that have been quicker to adopt wind energy, it is notable that they are siting new turbines off-shore. The city is sited at the foot of the Port Hills and when there is little wind a pall of smog lies over the city in winter. |
| Derivatives: | ||
| Adjective: citable, citeable, noncitable, nonciteable, uncitable Noun: citation, citer |
Adjective: sightable, sighted, sightless, sightly, sightworthy Adverb: sightlessly Noun: sighter, sighthound, sighting, sightlessness, sightliness, sightseeing, sightseer, undersight Verb, transitive: resight, sight-read, sight-sing |
Adjective: intersite Verb, transitive: resite, resited |
| History of the Word: | ||
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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources for Cite vs Sight vs Site
Apple Dictionary.com
Pinterest Photo Credits:
Land Surveyor is Random Guy of the Century’s own work under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license while the Munich Oktoberfest Construction for Pschorr Festival is Usien’s own work under the GFDL or CC BY-SA 3.0 licenses, via Wikimedia Commons.
