Sit, Set, and Seat

In a different post we discuss the distinction between lie and lay. It is also helpful to examine sit and set, another pair of potentially troubling verbs that is made even more confusing by a third verb, seat.

How Much Do You Know Already?

Do you recognize which (if any) of these sentences use sit, set, and seat correctly?

Yesterday Suki sat in her office all afternoon completing the annual report.
When she finished, she sat the report on her boss’s desk.
Marcellus sits his books on the hall table every afternoon after school.
Before Mr. Jones left for the meeting, we set down with him and reviewed the agenda.
We were dismayed when the host sat us near the drafty exit door.

To Sit

“To sit” is an intransitive verb. It describes an action undertaken by the subject of a clause, but it cannot take a direct object: the verb “to sit” does not express the kind of action that can be DONE TO anything.

Just as we do with “to lie,” think of “to sit” as meaning “to recline.”

Here’s how we conjugate it:

I SIT here every day. (She SITS here.)
I SAT here yesterday.
I WILL SIT here tomorrow.
I AM SITTING here right now.
I HAVE SAT here every day for years.

Notice that we never use the word set to describe the act of reclining.

To Set

“To set,” on the other hand, is a transitive verb; it describes an action and requires a direct object because it describes the kind of action that is DONE TO something. That is, something or someone in the sentence has to be receiving the action expressed by the verb.

Just as we do with “to lay,” think of “to set” as meaning “to place,” “to put.”

Here’s how we conjugate it:

I SET my book on the table every night before turning out the light. (She SETS her book on the table.)
I SET my book on the table last night.
I WILL SET my book on the table tonight.
I AM SETTING my book on the table right now.
I HAVE SET my book on the table every night for years.

Notice that we never use the words sit or sat to describe the act of putting or placing something or someone.

Lay and lie are especially difficult because the past tense form of “to lie” is lay—the same word as the present tense form of “to lay.” Fortunately, we have no such overlap with “to sit” and “to set.”

To Seat

Keep in mind that when we talk about placing our guests in their chairs for, say, a dinner party, we are seating them, not setting them. “To seat” is also a transitive verb and will take a direct object. We conjugate it thus:

Today I SEAT my guests.
Yesterday I SEATED my guests.
I WILL SEAT my guests.
I AM SEATING my guests.
I HAVE SEATED my guests.

How Well Did You Do?

Let’s look again at our opening sentences:

Yesterday Suki sat in her office all afternoon completing the annual report.

Sat is correct because we mean “to recline,” and the past tense form of the verb “to sit” is sat.

When she finished, she sat the report on her boss’s desk.

This sentence describes the act of putting or placing something—namely, the report. Because the verb takes a direct object (report), we should use the past tense form of the verb “to set,” which is set. CORRECT: When she finished, she SET the report on her boss’s desk.

Marcellus sits his books on the hall table every afternoon after school.

As in sentence 2, the verb in this sentence describes an act of putting or placing. The books are getting placed on the hall table. Thus, we should have used the present tense of the verb “to set.” CORRECT: Marcellus SETS his books on the hall table every afternoon after school.

Before Mr. Jones left for the meeting, we set down with him and reviewed the agenda.

Here the verb set does not have a direct object; that is, nothing in the clause is getting put or placed. Instead, the verb describes the act of reclining by the subject of the clause, we. CORRECT: Before Mr. Jones left for the meeting, we SAT down with him and reviewed the agenda.

We were dismayed when the host sat us near the drafty exit door.

Here the verb sat should be seated. We have a direct object for this transitive verb, to be sure, but here we intend to suggest our having been given a particular seat in the establishment, rather than our having been placed, as is implied with the verb set. CORRECT: We were dismayed when the host SEATED us near the drafty exit door.

The Rest of the Story

Remember, too, that the words we use when we conjugate “to sit,” “to set,” “to lay,” and “to lie” can hold entirely different meanings when they are not functioning as main verbs with the definitions addressed in this post and in the one on lay and lie.”

For example, set, sitting, and setting can all be used as nouns—“I have a new set of silverware,” for example, or “The movie set was expensive to create.” Likewise, the word lie can be a noun for an untruth, and when one fibs, one is lying—a definition of the verb “to lie” that certainly does not mean “to recline.”

For a fuller discussion of other uses of sit and set, read Merriam-Webster’s definitions.

In our post on lay and lie and in this one, we are dealing specifically with the often-confusing forms of these closely related transitive and intransitive verbs.

TEST YOURSELF

Can you spot errors in the use of the verbs “to sit,” “to set,” and “to seat” in the following sentences?

Before the guests arrive, I plan to sit several bowls of chips around the room.
Florence forgot that she had sat her keys on the seat of her car.
Ahmed complained that several dirty coffee cups had been setting on the counter all week.
As the board members arrived, Herb sat them in plush chairs around the conference table.

ANSWERS

Before the guests arrive, I plan to SET several bowls of chips around the room.
Florence forgot that she had SET her keys on the seat of her car.
Ahmed complained that several dirty coffee cups had been SITTING on the counter all week.
As the board member arrived, Herb SEATED them in plush chairs around the conference table.