Sit vs set
Sit means to rest on your bottom. Set means to put something down, so you sit on a chair, but you set a cup on the table.
Sit has an i, like I: it is about your own body. Set is about putting something else down.
sit verb
To rest with your weight on your bottom, or to move your body into that position.
- Please sit next to me.
- We sat on the bench and watched the boats.
set verb
To put something down in a place.
- She set the vase on the windowsill.
- Set your bags by the door and come in.
Watch out
- The past form of sit is sat. The past form of set is still set.Yesterday I sat by the window and set my coffee on the sill.
- Things can sit somewhere too, meaning they stay there without being moved. You set a thing down, and then it sits there.The unopened letters sit on his desk untouched.
- Sit can take a person after it. To sit someone means to put them in a seat.Please sit the guests at the front table.
Test yourself
Come in and blank down on the sofa.
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sit. You are resting your own body on the sofa, so you sit.
Please blank the box on the table.
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set. You are putting a thing down in a place, so you set it.
The dog learned to blank when it was told to.
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sit. The dog rests on its bottom, so it sits.
She blank the plates on the counter before the guests arrived.
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set. She put things down in a place, so she set them. Its past form is also set.