How to deal with quoting a grammatical error?

What should you do if you’re quoting someone, and that quote has a grammatical error?

Say for example that I’m quoting this line from the American Pregnancy Association:

The term used for a pregnancy that ends on it’s own, within the first 20 weeks of gestation.

The proper way to write this is without the apostrophe. I know that, and you know that, but the Association’s proofreader apparently missed it.

The question is what I should do now: how can I quote this without sounding like I’m the one committing a grammatical error?

Solution 1:

Use the word "sic", which is Latin for "thus". It indicates that the error was in the source material. But beware - it can be considered rude. I would quote the passage thusly:

the term used for a pregnancy that ends on it's [sic] own, within the first 20 weeks of gestation.

Solution 2:

As Chris Behrens says, if you do quote a grammatical error, then [sic] is the standard way to disclaim it.

However, in many cases it’s also perfectly fine to silently correct the error when you quote. There are a couple of main criteria:

• Might you be changing their meaning? In this example, there’s no ambiguity as to what the intention was, or what the correct version should be.

• Is the error relevant to the context you’re quoting it in? If you’re discussing the quality of informational materials provided by charities, then you probably want to preserve and point out the error. If you’re using it as a source in an article on miscarriages, then the error is probably irrelevant, and an unnecessary distraction for your reader.