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English grammar and communications hints and tips

Is it practise or practice?

There is always the difficulty of recognising American English spellings and British English spellings with words like these.

Whether we like it or not, much of our language is now heavily influenced by American English spellings. We use both forms in British English – one is a verb (doing word) and the other a noun (thing).

Practise

This is the verb ‘to practise’ and also the adjective from that verb (bullet 4 below).

Examples:

I practise the piano.
You are practising golf.
The doctor has been practising for 10 years.
He is a practised man.

Practice

This is the noun ‘the practice’ (as in ‘piano practice’ and ‘a doctor’s practice’).

Examples:

I have done my football practice.
Without enough practice, she would not get better at English.
Practice makes perfect.
She visits her local doctor’s practice.

See also: Is it license or licence?

Certain sets of words follow group rules of English grammar. Many rules of grammar are quite mathematical, with groups of words falling into building-blocks which all act the same way.

For example, the spelling rules are the same for ‘practice’, ‘licence’ and ‘advice’: the noun has a ‘c’, while the verb has an ‘s’.

One way of remembering this is that the word ‘noun’ comes before the word ‘verb’ in the dictionary; likewise ‘c’ comes before ‘s’, so the nouns are ‘practice/licence/advice’ and the verbs are ‘practise/license/advise’.

In fact, the confusion arises with ‘practice’ and ‘licence’ mainly because they sound the same with the ‘c’ or the ‘s’. However, with ‘advice’ and ‘advise’, there is a shift in sound, so there is no confusion at all. We can use this to our advantage: another way of knowing which to use is to replace the ‘practice’ or ‘licence’ word you want with ‘advice’ or ‘advise’ – this will tell you whether you need the ‘c’ or the ‘s’ spelling.

So, in the following phrase, let’s say you are unsure which to write:

I do not like this ‘practise/practice’.

Replace the word you want with ‘advice’ or ‘advise’.

I do not like this ‘advice’.

So – you will need:

I do not like this ‘practice’.

Remember, whenever you have those niggling queries going around the office (like ‘where to put this apostrophe’, ‘do we use that or which; dispatch or despatch; complimentary or complementary; practise or practice’), do just simply drop us an e-mail or call.

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