sic

When you are quoting a phrase that is incorrect, do you follow that phrase or the incorrect word with sic?


There is a helpful article on the use of sic in A Dictionary of Modern American Usage by Bryan A. Garner (OUP 1998).


Sic (=thus, so), invariably bracketed and usually set in italics, is used to indicate that a preceding word or phrase in a quoted passage is reproduced as it appeared in the original passage. Sic at its best is intended to aid readers who might be confused about whether the quoter or the quoted writer is responsible for the spelling or grammatical anomaly.


You should therefore position [sic] straight after the error to which it refers: if a misspelling, after the word concerned; otherwise after the phrase.





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