Practice/practise

[FellatioNelson]

In spite of being a pedant myself I have a real mental block over this one. I have consulted my dictionary on many occasions and it is frustratingly unclear on the matter. Seeing it written wrongly so often by others just compounds my confusion. Just when I think I have it right I'm thrown inot doubt again.

Do I practise or practice my violin?

Do I run a law practice or a law practise?

And (this is the tricky bugger) - do I indulge in the practice of fellatio or the practise of it? Strictly speaking, neither of the above two categories covers it.

Thanks awfully.

It's the same rules as for advice and advise. One's a noun, one's a verb.

It's easier to remember advice and advise because they're said differently, so remember which one is which of those and you'll be able to work out which practice/practise you need.

S for the verb. I practise the piano every day.

C for the noun. He's gone to choir practice.

Although I think Americans might just use s for everything.

Should probably have said, practise is a verb, practice is a noun. I am practising my ill voice in the doctor's practice.

Practice is the noun.

Practise is the verb.

It might help if you think of "advice/advise" when trying to remember, as they follow the same pattern but have the advantage of no being homophones.

I think of ICE as a noun. Then I remember which way round it is.

so it's 'the practice of fellatio' but 'you practise fellatio' if that helps

That's it! Thank you! I wasn't separating them into verbs and nouns. I shall never forget again. Mwah.

Now then, as I have you all assembled and paying attention, my mother and I were telling my son why he should say 'bored with' instead of 'bored of' and my other son helped explain by saying 'you don't say 'I'm pleased of this' or 'I'm angry of you' you say 'with'. So far so good.

But then I though about tired. I am tired of something, not necessarily with it, although I could be, in a slightly different context. Help me out here too please! Where's the logic with the bored thing?

There is none..

I suspect there is no logical explanation for this but I'm tempted to say (in fact I am saying) that by saying "of", you are distancing yourself from the thing in question in a way you aren't when you say "with". So you're bored with something (but it's still here or you're still doing it) but you're tired of something (so you've stopped doing it or got rid of it). Saying you're bored with talking to your husband sounds bad but at least you're still with him: saying you're tired of him is much more serious.

Wow. Grammar lessons and marriage guidance all in one post. Excellent value for money.

But, you can also say 'I am bored by' and 'I am tired by' but not 'I am angry by' ... although I guess you can say 'I am made angry by'.

I should be able to find out the answer to this ... [scurries away to check preposition rules, suspect it's something to do with transitivity]

I think (through a snotty, lemsippy haze, so don't shoot me if I'm wrong - unless you have mentholated bullets, perhaps) that the difference is whether you're using a noun or a verb.

angry with/angered by

Obviously 'bored' can work as a noun or a verb in that form, so it's harder to see the difference.

I think in America they use practice for everything, but have a driving license.