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Victo Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

(Sic) to denote punctuational errors?

Can [sic] be used to highlight a punctuational error, in your opinion? In the sentence below, the bracketed sic would obviously denote that the punctuation preceding it was an error—that is, a semicolon should supplant the comma. Has anybody ever seen this usage, and would you support it?

The sun is high, [sic] put on some sunblock.
  

Top answer

Sic denotes "thus was it written". Although sometimes used in other ways, the standard use of sic, and in my view the most appropriate, is to indicate that you are quoting the original text exactly, and that an apparent error is not your own mistake.

— Blue Jay

  • Sic denotes "thus was it written".
  • Although sometimes used in other ways, the standard use of sic, and in my view the most appropriate, is to indicate that you are quoting the original text exactly, and that an apparent error is not your own mistake.
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3 Answers
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Sic denotes "thus was it written". Although sometimes used in other ways, the standard use of sic, and in my view the most appropriate, is to indicate that you are quoting the original text exactly, and that an apparent error is not your own mistake.
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But can you use it to denote errors in punctuation as I had exampled?
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thus was it written
I would think that would essentially cover punctuation, so yes.
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