Fun with Grammar.

[MontyVeda]

sorry...

 

[MichaelM]

I agree it should be practice (noun) and not pratise (at least in British English, anyway).

I definitely agree with this

 

[ASC1951]

For some reason I find it very easy to use advice/advise correctly, yet practice/practise seems much harder to get right. Dunno why, despite the common ce/se endings.

Because advice/advise both have a long 'i' so it's easy to pronounce them differently; as most people do, with a zed sound for the verb.
US English preserves that distinction, by generally printing a zed for the soft 's'.

 

[Cubist]

I think you were correct. Their, his, my, all refer to a thing, owned by a person. That may be a physical thing (dog, hat), or a concept (skill, soul), but it's a thing, and therefore a noun. You cannot own a verb.

.

However, when that verb is declined and used as a gerund it becomes a noun, which causes a lot of confusion. For example,

"His excellence at gymnastics was the result of his practising."

 

[Beebo]

which witch is which?

 

[Archie_tect]

It was the fat one on the end.

 

[swee'pea99]

One of my pet hates turned up in the first para of an article in y'day's Grauniad: a professional journalist, paid in many proud British Sterlings, used the expression 'a myriad of'. Grrrr. Also, harumph.

Incidentally, I always remember the practice/practise thing by having it pointed out to me once that c comes before s in the alphabet, as does n before v.

 

[slowmotion]

From a very early age, I was made to study Latin. Kennedy's Shorter Latin Primer was the bible. Everything that I ever learned on the matter atrophied long ago.....except for the "zeugma". Here one is...

She went home in a temper and a sedan chair.

 

[RedRider]

My usual test of practice/practise, licence/license etc is to use the more obvious advice/advise comparison. Because practice/practise SOUND the same, the spelling isn't obvious. However, substitute the differently sounding advice or advise and the answer leaps out....

I was gonna post that advise myself.

More of a spelling bee in my bonnet than grammar gripe but I didn't know whether to laugh or slap the man in the striped apron when I saw a sign in a Bermondsey butcher's advertising 'Carrion Bags 3p extra.'

( if it turns out to be a frank new name for sausages.)

 

[Arch]

Ah well, if we're going to divert onto grocers' spellings....

 

[yello]

Nice clear handwriting though. I like that '2', very well formed.

 

[Arch]

Yes, I like that sign. I'm normally a bit of a stickler for spelling and stuff, but I look at that and think "We all know what it means, what's the problem?"

I can never quite remember the correct spelling myself, how many cs, or ls there should be. That just says it like it is.

 

[Dayvo]

Two cs, one l.

 

[mr_hippo]

One of my pet hates turned up in the first para of an article in y'day's Grauniad: a professional journalist, paid in many proud British Sterlings, used the expression 'a myriad of'. Grrrr. Also, harumph.

''Myriad' nd 'myriad of' are both correct. One of my pet hates is people trying to impress others with their knowledge and ending flat on their faces. Please explain to me what are 'pound British Sterlings'? if you want to use sterling (note - not capitalised) use pound sterling.

 

[Brains]

I met a panda that eats shites and leaves.

A panda walks into a café. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and proceeds to fire it at the other patrons.
'Why?' asks the confused, surviving waiter amidst the carnage, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.
'Well, I'm a panda,' he says, at the door. 'Look it up.'
The waiter turns to the relevant entry in the manual and, sure enough, finds an explanation. 'Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.'