Practise or practice?

[FloralGums]

I really don’t understand when to use practice/practise.

Do I practice or practise my reverse parking?
Do I do piano practice or practise?

Do my children need to do their spelling practice or practise and do they practice or practise their spellings? Is there a difference between the two?

I do understand it’s a doctor’s practice.

Help!

Practice is a noun and practise is a verb .

Practise is a verb, practice is a noun.

So "I need to practise the violin", but "Have you done your violin practice today?"

Practise is the verb, practice is the noun.

My GP practises from the new practice in the high street.

See also license/licence.

I gey my licence from the Licensing Office.

Does that help?

It’s like advice and advise if that helps?

Advice is the thing, like a doctors practice or your violin practice. C.

Advice is what you do, advising the government on how to tackle crime or practising the violin so you improve. S.

Yep, I came on here to say substitute "advise" and "advice" in your head. Makes it easy! (Well, it does for me.)

The lawyers 'advise in their advice' - they practise in their practice.

Thanks for all the replies.
I’m still not quite clear- sorry to be dense.
I know that practice = noun and practise = verb but it confuses me.
Apart from a doctor’s practice, how can practice be a noun?
Piano practice is not a thing you can touch or see - I always think of nouns as actual things/objects. How can you have violin practice?
I understand you can have piano practise because it’s something you do - a verb.
When does violin practice change to violin practise?

The noun verb conundrum is made worse by the fact that US (aka international) English sees license as both.

In the same way that advice can be a thing. ‘The advice is to avoid sugar’. It’s a thing even though you can’t touch it.

I also came here to say substitute advise or advice into the sentence and it's immediately obvious which sounds wrong.

Lots of nouns are abstract or concepts, not physical objects. As a rule of thumb, if you can put 'a' or 'the' or 'my' or 'their' in front of it, it's a noun.

Practise- verb

Practice- noun

I must practise the piano = verb
It is time for my piano practice = noun

It’s easier to think of advise and advice as they’re said differently. Same spelling for practise/practice - verb is -se, noun is -ce.

This is all British English, of course. American English does not always make the same distinction, eg they spell driver's license like that, not licence, as it would be in the UK.

James Bond is licensed to kill. Verb.

You have a driver's licence or tv licence and buy booze from the off-licence. Nouns.

No, nouns are not all things you can see or touch. Imagination, religion, thought, happiness are all nouns.

If you can put 'a' or 'the', 'some' or 'my' in front of a word, that's a good indication that it's a noun.

For example:
Let's do some practice.
That's part of my practice.
He had a bit of a practice before the concert started.

But:
She practised every day.
Do you practise the violin in the evening?

Practice is a thing. To practise is an action.

It’s time to practise the piano.
Schedule your piano practice.

I gave her my advice.
She advised me to sod off.

As @WhatASadLittleLifeJayne says, advice/advise is a great example. I doubt you'd get confused between those two. Advice is a thing. Advise is what you do.

I advise him.
I give him advice.

Thank you. I can’t quite work out how to substitute advice and advise for practice or practice in a sentence. I advise you to practise your piano?
Would I be right in thinking that if I am doing the actual spellings it’s practise (I am practising my spellings), but if I am telling a child to do their spellings it’s practice (Go and practice your spellings)?

While you do the substitution, ignore the meaning of the root word momentarily.

I am advising/practising my spellings - correct.
Go and advice/practice your spellings - incorrect.

Both words are about ‘doing’ spellings. You need the thing that has to be done- practice/advice.

A service which offers advice, teaches spelling and treats animals- A Practice. A Spelling Practice. An Advice Practice. A veterinary practice.

At the Advice Practice they will advise you about advice.
At The Spelling Practice they will advise you on how to practise your spelling.
At the Veterinary Practice they will advise you on health care for your pet. They will not let you practise medicine on other people’s animals, because they are a reputable practice.

Does that help? I hope I got them all right- autocorrect was conspiring against me!

You don’t need to put the word advice into a sentence about practice. Just think about how you spell advice, if the ‘practice’ you need is a noun, or how you spell ‘advise’ if the practise you need is a verb.

Would I be right in thinking that if I am doing the actual spellings it’s practise (I am practising my spellings), but if I am telling a child to do their spellings it’s practice (Go and practice your spellings)?

I am practising my spellings ✔️
Go and practice your spellings ❌ no because here ‘practice’ is still something you’re doing - a verb - so should be ‘practise’

To use the noun, it would be something like ‘go and do your spelling practice’ - ‘do’ is the verb and ‘spelling practice’ is the noun.

‘I advise you to do your spelling practice’ - advise is the verb (see how same spelling as the verb version of ‘practise’ in the example above with the red cross). And ‘spelling practice’ is the noun - same spelling as the noun ‘advice’.

You seek some advice (noun). I have advised you (something I’ve done).

I always think of nouns as actual things/objects. How can you have violin practice?

nouns can be concrete - something you can see or touch - or abstract - something that can be experienced or felt.

so concrete nouns are things like the building, the table, the baby.

abstract - love, a dream, the future.

I think a decent rule of thumb is if you can put a / the in front of it it’s a noun.

Thanks everyone. It’s taken a bit of time and some slow re-reading of everyone’s responses but I think I’ve got it!

Now you need to practise it…

Oh this is interesting especially license and licence too.

So if practice is the noun, can 'practicing' ever be correct? I'm confused why spell check is autocorrecting to that, but if I am using that word in that format surely it'll always require the verb and be practising? Unless you can say "his practicing was very good"?