Cite, Site, Sight
Cite, site and sight are homophones: similarly sounding words but with a different meaning and spelling.
Madhumita cites to the doctor that her sight is getting poorer which she realised while reading a newspaper on an online site.
Cite means quoting, referring, and pointing out to a book, journal, etc in support of an argument or statement made; indicating to something or someone by giving reference to a credible source; adduce as an instance and to commend someone for a good deed.
She was felicitated with a citation.
Gandhi is cited as the pinnacle of peace.
For academic journals, one has to read authoritative books or commended literature for citable quotations in order to build an argument.
“In addition to making your message simple, try to make it memorable. Put your ideas in verse if you can; they will be more likely to be taken as truth. Participants in much cited experiment read dozens of unfamiliar aphorisms, such as: Woes unite foes. Little strokes will tumble great oaks. A fault confessed is half redressed.” – Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman.
Derivatives of cite are cites, citable (adjective) and citation (in honour of an achievement) but CITES in upper case is an abbreviation: Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
Site means place, location, ground used for a particular activity such as for building site, camping site, launching site (Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana, South American, is one of the sites to launch spacecrafts).
The manual labourers working on construction sites in the cities have no toilets.
“For two millennia it (Sea of Galilee) has been an important Christian pilgrimage site and also holds significance for Jews, who call it Yam Kinneret. The 64-square-mile lake lies at the base of Golan Heights and is Israel’s largest body of fresh water.” National Geographic’s Special Edition on Earth’s Holiest Places: Sacred Journeys
“Police have warned that an operation to evict 400 Irish travelers and up to 2,000 activists from Dale Farm gypsy site could take up to eight weeks.” The Times 02.09.2011
Site and place are used in some contexts interchangeably. It is the site of pilgrimage (Benares); it is a pilgrimage place in India (Benares).
In Digital Age, site is also commonly referred to an internet platform (website). Since the proliferation of Internet in our lives, the numbers of social media sites have increased. On which website can we find good offers to buy groceries?
Sight as a noun refers to the ability to see through eyes (some can see through their mind!), and has many other meanings: the act of seeing something, something that is seen, visible range for a person (short or long sight?), important landmarks to see in a city (what are the must-see sights in Delhi?). As a verb it refers to seeing something as one approaches (they sighted the oasis!), observe the presence of something or someone (sighted birds on the aircraft), at the first right is a phrasal verb: They fell in love at the first sight!
Catch sight of means begin to see, be aware of and lose sight means not showing interest and losing visibility.
Lower one’s sights: less ambitious
Out of my sight: not visible
Set one’s sights on: aim high
Derivatives of sight (noun & verb), sighted (adjective), sightless (adjective), sightly (adjective: attractive to see, not unsightly), sightlessly (adverb), sightlessness (noun).
The sight of street children sleeping should be cited to policy makers, and their plight to the attention of the citizens through social media sites. Shall we?
The Kilimanjaro Nation Park in Tanzani is a World Heritage Site. The site has the African continent’s highest mountain and one of the largest volcanoes in the world. Mount Kilimanjaro is the world’s tallest free-standing mountain towering over the surrounding plains and forests, and its peak at 5895 metres is snow-capped: glaciers and snow adorn the mountain.
