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Tuesday, 13 September 2011

Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Practise or Practice?

C. E. Brock illustration for the 1895 edition ...Image via Wikipedia
Practise or Practice?
Practise: verb - perform or carry out constantly or habitually; act upon instead of simply professing a belief;
exercise or pursue a profession or occupation, such as law or medicine; observe, actively follow the doctrines of a religion; actually carry out a law or command; do something repeatedly to acquire a skill; train or drill someone; make practical use of, employ; try to do something; Design a means to bring about, plan; plot an evil or unlawful act; try out or use experimentally.

Practice: noun - doing something; the usual or customary action or performance; a custom; a habit; in Law - established method of legal procedure; exercise of a profession or occupation; the business to which a lawyer or doctor belongs; repeated performance of an action to gain or keep proficiency in it; activity undertaken to this end; practical application as opposed to the theory; exercise; a practical treatise.

We all know that 'practise' is the verb and 'practice' the noun, but this is not easy to remember for many.
However, if you think about similar words this might help.
Advise is similar to 'practise' and has the advantage that you know that 'to advise' is a verb.
Similarly, advice is similar to 'practice', and we all know that 'advice' is a noun.

'Unless you practise more, Miss Bennett, you'll never be proficient.'  Pride and Prejudice.

'Kim had been a doctor for several years and had her own practice on the high street.'

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