Bad Grammatical Errors, Habitualized.

2015-03-19T17:35:01-04:00

I have a couple of issues, sometimes it's ignorance, or relying on an authority who was incorrect to gain my initial understanding.
For instance, I have improperly been using (sic) near a quote to indicate that I may not be faithfully reproducing the original speaker. When in fact it's supposed to be [sic] and indicating that I'm reproducing an original statement correctly, it's just the original statement that's wrong.
For any I've harmed by doing so, I apologize.
Does anyone know the term I should be using if I can't be certain of the quote and/or if I'm intentionality paraphrasing it?

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 19 at 2015 5:37 PM

2015-03-19T17:37:36-04:00

I agree that is overkill on behalf of the person making it a big point.

Response by Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS made Mar 19 at 2015 5:42 PM

2015-03-19T17:42:43-04:00

http://data.grammarbook.com/blog/definitions/sic/

This should help.

Using [sic] Properly - Grammar & Punctuation | The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation

The #1 Grammar and Punctuation Resources Website – English grammar rules, capitalization, punctuation, whom, whomever, whoever, writing numbers, apostrophe, and The Blue Book of Grammar.

Response by CSM Michael J. Uhlig made Mar 19 at 2015 5:43 PM

2015-03-19T17:43:42-04:00

GySgt Joe Strong, see if this helps out any:

http://www.roanestate.edu/OWL/UsingSources_MLA.html

MLA: Using Sources Correctly

There are three main ways to uses sources in your research paper. You may quote. You may paraphrase. Or you may summarize. All three require an in-text (parenthetical) citation!

Response by CW5 Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 19 at 2015 6:54 PM

2015-03-19T18:54:51-04:00

I think the reason for the brackets, GySgt Joe Strong, is that [sic] is often used inside quotes -- for grammatical errors, misspelled words, and the like. So, if I said, "There test scores were terrible." ... You would quote me like this: Montgomery said, "There [sic] test scores were terrible." ... to communicate that you know there's a mistake there, but it's part of a quote.

I don't know if there is a similar convention for paraphrasing. If there is, I've never heard of it.

Response by SFC Collin McMillion made Mar 19 at 2015 8:08 PM

2015-03-19T20:08:01-04:00

I really don't think it makes any difference how you try to define what you say, there is always going to be someone who just lives to make an issue of it.