I understand that the distinction between licence and license can be hard to remember, especially since it varies between Australian and US English. I’m a lot less sympathetic to people who write “I advice you” when what they mean is “I advise you”.
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Advice is a noun. Advise is a verb. This remains true in all varieties of English. So “I advise you” is fine, “I advice you” is meaningless gibberish. And yet a casual Google search shows up nearly 4.7 million. examples of this phrase. It’s particularly common on forums. I appreciate that these are casual environments, but if you form sloppy habits, they tend to stick.
Be wise, use advise when you need a verb. Accuracy matters.
Lifehacker’s Mind Your Language column offers bossy advice on improving your writing.
Comments
9 responses to “I Advise You To Never Write ‘I Advice You’”
Your advice is highly appreciated.
I’m sorry, but you would have to be pretty illiterate in the first place to use that spelling, I mean, really illiterate….
I see this more often than not. Working in education this is one of my pet peeves.
Me fail english? Thats unpossible!
Licence and license follow exactly the same pattern as advice and advise – …ce is a noun, …se is a verb.
It is the general misuse of affect and effect that makes my brain explode.
I see this all the time, and it hurts my brain…
Almost as much when people use quiet instead of quite.
Except it. It’s hear to stay!
loose over lose is as annoying!
But the pronunciation is different. Advise and advice sound different. No excuse for this mistake.