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Post by Steve Hopwood on Jan 20, 2007 8:08:36 GMT
Can any of you more intelligent contributors spell out whether I should use 'practise' or 'practice' to describe work at the piano, please? My usage tends to be random, although I prefer 'practise' because I find the 's' easier to hit at the computer than 'c'. ;D  |
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Post by chocolatedog on Jan 20, 2007 9:51:03 GMT
I can! I can! "Practise" is a verb (doing word, for anyone out there not sure about Ebglish grammar jargon!) and "practice" is a noun (thing word).......so for example "I practise the piano for 2 hours a day" or "I practise my flute in my room" or "I usually practise in the afternoon after I get home from school" are all correct.........but you need the other spelling for sentences like "I don't like piano practice - it's boring" or " Have you done your practice today?" or "there will be a choir practice after school on Thursday".......... notice however that you can also get instead of "I don't like piano practice" "I don't like practising the piano" when the verb 'practising' is actually used as a noun (called a gerundive) but it's still spelled the verb way as it's still a verb and takes an object (the piano)........confused yet?! I should have been an English teacher!!! ;D So "Practice can be fun!" and "Practising can be fun!" are the same in meaning, but the first is a noun and the second a verb gerundive........ great fun eh?!   |
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Post by Steve Hopwood on Jan 20, 2007 10:05:25 GMT
Brilliant. Many thanks cd. Notice your karma go up just then? I have copied your reply into a document saved on my desktop so I can read it every time I want to use the term. ;D Perhaps I should have paid more attention to those grammar lessons and spent less time poking the girl in front with my pen.  So, to check: "I am off to practise the piano now" (actually, I am off to have a bath)? "Your exam is next week. You do need to practice your scales a bit."? "Despite the appalling din you have just subjected my ears to, you claim you have been practising this piece"? |
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Post by Dulciana on Jan 20, 2007 12:07:21 GMT
No, you don't need to 'practice' your scales - you need to 'practise' them!!! Your scale 'practice' is important! It's only if you can put the word 'the' in front of it that it's a noun and takes a 'c'. Now do I get a Karma point too? (I got a mental block about how many s's and t's were in the word staccato for years; I had written it wrongly so many times that it looked right.) |
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Post by Steve Hopwood on Jan 20, 2007 12:47:06 GMT
No, you don't need to 'practice' your scales - you need to 'practise' them!!! Your scale 'practice' is important! It's only if you can put the word 'the' in front of it that it's a noun and takes a 'c'. Yes. Someone with less patience than CD would be asking, "Which bit of 'Practise' is a verb (doing word, for anyone out there not sure about English grammar jargon!)" don't you understand?  Have I got it right here? alternativefora.proboards99.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=voice&thread=1169207021&page=1Done. I am not going to confess what I did to 'crotchet' for several years until a child pointed it out. |
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Post by Dulciana on Jan 20, 2007 12:53:08 GMT
Poor Crotchet! Did it hurt?  |
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Post by Steve Hopwood on Jan 20, 2007 12:54:35 GMT
Poor Crotchet! Did it hurt? It hurt me when I discovered what I had been doing |
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Post by YetAnotherKlavierist on Jan 20, 2007 12:56:56 GMT
The way I remember it is advice and advise:
I did some piano advice yesterday.
I'm going to advise the piano later.
Who am I kidding, I haven't advised for over a week....
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Post by anacrusis on Jan 20, 2007 15:36:04 GMT
As long as you can remember what nouns and verbs look like, it is easy (there was a cohort of kids which emerged from the education system unable to tell the difference, but I understand that's being corrected now). c goes in for a noun s goes in for a verb c is before s in the alphabet n for noun is before v for verb in the alphabet so they match. practisely, or practiceful, anacrusis. |
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Post by loops on Mar 14, 2007 9:30:01 GMT
Can any of you more intelligent contributors spell out whether I should use 'practise' or 'practice' to describe work at the piano, please? My usage tends to be random, although I prefer 'practise' because I find the 's' easier to hit at the computer than 'c'. ;D greetings!! The easy way to remember is this: rise is a verb, it has an "s" rice is a noun, it has a "c" the same holds for licenc/se, advis/ce, practic/se etc etc cheers |
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Post by caz on Mar 14, 2007 10:17:58 GMT
Personally I don't practise *or* practice...  Unless I have an important recital coming up of course! |
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Post by jod on Mar 14, 2007 11:10:26 GMT
I "practise" exercises and repertoire during my "practice" sessions. I do singing "practice" when I'm "practising"
Has this made the usage any clearer. Practise is an action because its a verb. What you call the time you practise is a noun so its Music Practice.
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Post by anacrusis on Mar 14, 2007 14:27:06 GMT
*goes to play*
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