Cite, site, and sight are three words that sound the same, but have very different meanings.

Cite is the verb form of the word citation, which means to acknowledge the use of another person’s material, work, or words.

Ex. Sam cited Umberto Eco in his research paper.

Site is a location.

Ex. Fred visited the construction site after finding its location from the construction crew’s website.

Sight deals with the eyes and the sense of vision.

Ex. Bob kept the Martian UFO in sight.

In addition to our own website, we also recommend the following website: http://homepage.smc.edu/quizzes/cheney_joyce/citesitesight.html. This website has a quiz to help further your knowledge of  the distinctions among these three words.

Determine whether the following sentences should use cite, site, or sight.

1. Sally went to the (cite, site, sight) of the crime.
2. In order to show his knowledge of the research in his field, Randy (cited, sited, sighted) earlier studies in his paper.
3. I’ve got you in my (cites, sites, sights).

Answers:

1. Sally went to the site of the crime.
2. In order to show his knowledge of the research in his field, Randy cited earlier studies in his paper.
3. I’ve got you in my sights.

Grammatically Correct is a grammar tip of the week created by Academic Center Peer Writing Tutors at the University of Houston-Victoria in Victoria, Texas.

Comments about this newsletter should be directed to Summer Leibensperger, leibenspergers@uhv.edu.

Subscribe/Unsubscribe/View Archive