When to use practise

[AvocadoAndToast]

I was taught that practise was a verb and practice was a noun.

However, I now see practice used generically most of the time (including in text books). Is this just an Americanism creeping in to the language or are there in fact nuances as to when ‘practise’ should be used?

It must be an Americanism, as you’re right on the verb/noun distinction.

You are correct in British English. Practise is the verb and practice is the noun.

With practise/practice, it's not always clear which is a verb and which is a noun... but you're correct.

Textbooks may be written in US English, but this is unlikely if they're for UK courses.

Maybe the copy-editor made a mistake? Maybe the editor didn't know the difference...

I think loads of people don't know the difference and they sound the same so harder to remember, unlike advice and advise. Same as licence/license.

I do know and use practice and practise correctly, but Microsoft Word doesn't.

Probably an Americanism.

A useful way to check is to think of advise (verb) and advice (noun)

Yes, you’re correct. I notice similar mistakes with advise and advice.

I find that a lot of people just use the American version nowadays and if you make a distinction they correct you!

Interesting, thanks all. I wonder if the days of us spelling them differently are nearly over as American IT systems are the default.

I don't have anything to add except I've found that substituting advise and advice in my head (for practise/ice) is much easier than trying to remember which is the noun and which is the verb.

For my degree at a Russell Group university in 2000 I was given a style guide for essays which made it clear that they would accept either English or American spelling but expected any essay to have one or the other, not both.

I don't suppose they are able to do that any more.