Word Confusion: Seat versus Sit

Posted August 12, 2021 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Sit. Stay. Read.

Now that I have that out of my brain, *grin*, seat and sit are both nouns and verbs and frequently confused. The easiest explanation for the difference between seat and sit is the gerund/present participle of each: seating and sitting.

Seating, as a noun (gerund), is the provision of chairs for people to sit. As a verb (present participle), it means to cause to sit down or to usher to a seat.

Sitting, as a noun (gerund), is a period during which one is seated for a specific purpose and resting with the body supported by buttocks and thighs. As a verb (present participle), it means being located upon.

Becoming More Specific . . .

Seat as a noun is the actual item on which you’d sit (that includes the seat of your pants!), a location, or a way to support something. In polite company, one’s seat is also one’s buttocks. As a rider, it would be how you sit on a horse. As a verb, you can fit or close a valve, place something on a seat (noun), find, accommodate, the fit of a garment, install in a position, or attach firmly to a base.

Sit as a noun is an event intended for meditation or how clothing fits. As a verb, sit is much more eclectic. The basic is a position in which all your weight is supported by your butt and not your feet. On a seat somewhere. It’s also about location, service to something official — the British don’t “take a test” but “sit for an exam”. One can also keep an eye on someone’s house, pet, or child or sit on eggs to keep them warm, perch, be easy on your stomach, how clothes fit your body, or being still. And let’s not forget riding that horse, posing for a photographer, or describing the number of seats available.

You may want to explore “Seat versus Seed” and “Set versus Sit“.

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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Seat	Sit
Wembley Royal Box by wonker is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — Seats set aside for the queen and party.	Cute Child Sits in a Rocker is in the public domain, via PxFuel.
Part of Grammar:
Noun ¹; Verb ², intransitive & transitive Plural for the noun: seats Gerund: seating Third person present verb: seats Past tense or past participle: seated Present participle: seating	Exclamation; Noun, singular; Verb, intransitive & transitive Plural for the noun: sit Gerund: sitting Third person present verb: sits Past tense or past participle: sat, [Archaic] sate, sitten Present participle: sitting
Noun: A thing made or used for sitting on, such as a chair or stool ¹ The roughly horizontal part of a chair, on which one’s weight rests directly A sitting place for a passenger in a vehicle or for a member of an audience A place in an elected legislative or other body A site or location of something specified Short for country seat Short for county seat A part of a machine that supports or guides another part A person’s buttocks The part of a garment that covers the buttocks A manner of sitting on a horse Verb, intransitive: [Engineering; of a cap, valve, etc.] To be closed or in proper position ² Verb, transitive: To place on a seat or seats ² Cause to sit down To usher to a seat or find a seat for To have seats for Accommodate with seats To put a seat on or into (a chair, garment, etc.) To install in a position or office of authority, in a legislative body, etc. [Engineering] To fit (a valve) with a seat To attach to or place firmly in or on something as a base	Exclamation: [Usually to a dog] Command Noun, singular: A period of sitting [Buddhism; rare] An event, usually lasting one full day or more, where the primary goal is to sit in meditation [Archaic] The way in which an item of clothing fits someone Verb, intransitive: Adopt or be in a position in which one’s weight is supported by one’s buttocks rather than one’s feet and one’s back is upright [Of a legislature, committee, court of law, etc.] Be engaged in its business Serve as a member of a council, jury, or other official body [British] Take an examination [In combination] Stay in someone’s house while they are away and look after their house or pet Babysit [Of an animal] Rest with the hind legs bent and the body close to the ground [Of a hen or other bird] Settle on eggs for the purpose of incubating them To be accepted or considered in the way indicated [Informal] To be acceptable to the stomach [Of wind] To blow from the indicated direction To fit, rest, or hang, as a garment To remain quiet or inactive To be located or situated [Followed by on or upon] To rest or lie Verb, transitive: Cause (someone) to sit [Of an animal] Rest with the hind legs bent and the body close to the ground Ride or keep one’s seat on a horse [Of a table, room, or building] Be large enough for (a specified number of seated people) [sit for] Pose, typically in a seated position, for (an artist or photographer) [North American] Not use (a player) in a game Be or remain in a particular position or state [With adverbial; of an item of clothing] Fit a person well or badly as specified [sit with] Be harmonious with [British] Take an examination [Of a bird] Rest on a branch Perch [Of a bird] Remain on its nest to incubate its egg
Examples:
Noun: I sat down in the white chair while Dr. Clark took a seat on a stool that sat to my left. The package Campbell had brought the night before rested unassumingly on the seat of my chair. He has removed reclining seats, so now passengers have to endure the whole flight sitting up straight. She has a seat on the board of directors. I’m hoping Ron Johnson loses his seat in the next election. Wilton House in Wiltshire, England, is the seat of the Earls of Pembroke. Miami is the county seat for Dade County in Florida. If the valve seat is damaged, it can be recut using a special tool. The oversized, bejeweled seat on which a king or queen sits is called a throne. They tossed beach balls to one another between the decks and nibbled on cucumber sandwiches as they shook sand from the towels covering their seats. As she was doing this, the instructor worked her tail through a hole in the seat of the garment. Karen is needlepointing new chair cushions for the seats on the dining room chairs. Why do we always have to sit in the back seat? Waging war with such tools required more than courage, common sense, and a firm seat on a horse. Hippocrates had focused attention on the brain as the seat of the mind. Verb, intransitive: Can you get that valve seated? The O-rings had not seated correctly in their grooves. She asked him to sit. The new representative was seated in the House, but was unseated later that month. Verb, transitive: We’d like to be seated in the back. The jet seats up to 175 passengers. Owen seated his guests in the drafty baronial hall. Start by seating yourself in a comfortable position in a quiet area. Your thin skirt has seated badly. The new president was seated immediately after the election. It’s important to seat the cylinder liner, cylinder block, and seat rings properly to ensure that air does not escape inappropriately. Be sure to seat the child’s restraint seat firmly in a back seat. It would be unwise to assume that this test proves that you can get better pistol accuracy by simply seating the bullet out further.	Exclamation: Sit! Stay! Sit, Teddy. Noun, singular: Try to do at least one thing different each day — simple things: take a walk or have a sit in the park. The sit of the collar brought tears into my eyes, sir, when first I saw it. “The aim of zazen is [to sit], that is, suspending all judgmental thinking and letting words, ideas, images, and thoughts pass by without getting involved in them” (Zazen). Verb, intransitive: Sit yourself down and I’ll bring you some coffee. You can sit wherever you like. The European Parliament sits at exactly the same time as the Dáil on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The Senate has 100 members who sit for six years. You will have all your personal belongings inspected before you sit for the exam to ensure that no one is able to cheat. Jenny will be house sitting when I head to the Bahamas. Mary said she’ll sit for us on Saturday night. It is important for a dog to sit when instructed. Don’t introduce a new male when the hens are sitting. He was far too great a man to sit with such poor customers as my friend and myself. Those pizzas are sitting well with me. The idea that some children have to go hungry in this country just doesn’t sit comfortably with me. Legal exams are coming up, and I plan to sit in September. How the wind sits is nothing to do with me. That dress sits well on you. She could sit for hours. It was an upright log she sat upon. The moon shone full upon the face of the stone Witch who sits aloft forever. It’s tradition that every new president of the company has to sit for a portrait, which is hung in the main foyer of the building. Verb, transitive: Have you never sat a horse before? The restaurant sat about 400 people. Gainsborough asked her to sit for him. He’ll sit a hot player like SF Marcus Fizer or PG A.J. Guyton for whole quarters despite the fact they are hot. His shyness doesn’t sit easily with Hollywood tradition. He was about to sit for his Cambridge entrance exam. Look at the flickers sitting on the birdfeeder! Don’t disturb her, she’s sitting on her eggs.
Derivatives:
Adjective: seatless, underseated, well-seated Noun: seatbelt, -seater, seater, seating Verb, transitive: misseat	Adjective: sit-down, sitting Noun: settle, sit-down, sit-in, sit-up, sit-upon, sitter, sitting
Phrasal Verb
	sit back sit by sit down sit in sit in for sit on sit something out sit through sit up sit someone up
History of the Word:
Middle English from the Old Norse sæti, which is from the Germanic base of sit. Dates from the late 16th century.	Old English sittan is of Germanic origin and related to the Dutch zitten, the German sitzen, from an Indo-European root shared by the Latin sedere and the Greek hezesthai.

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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!

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