|
|
Is it practice or practise? - Australian spelling
As I was driving to get onto the Greensborough ring road, I saw a billboard which had the phrase, "PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT".
I have to admit the words practice and practise are two words which have given me grief over the years.
I finally thought I'd mastered when to use which word, when I keep seeing usage that simply doesn't make sense to me,
such as "practice makes perfect".
I passed the phrase on to an editor friend who I trust for their advice and their initial response was the same as mine.
They felt it should be "practise makes perfect". However neither of us were right.
The reason is the phrase is what is known as an idiom.
An idiom according to the Australian Oxford dictionary is:
"a group of words established by usage and having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words (as in 'over the moon', 'see the light')".
So the billboard was using the correct spelling.
It was only my lack of knowledge that the phrase "practice makes perfect" was an idiom that caused the confusion.
The way I like to now think of the words practice and practise is the following:
I went to practise tennis at tennis practice.
I like to practise for my driving test using the driving practice tests.
These are what I consider the difficult to understand situations for which spelling to use.
You go to tennis practice which is a place where you do something which is to practise tennis.
A place is a noun and an action is a verb.
I decided to collect examples from the two dictionaries I use as authoritative references
(the Macquarie Dictionary Fifth Edition and The Australian Oxford Dictionary Second Dictionary)
with regards to Australian English. I hope these examples help others.
As a special note, we are heavily influenced by American software, software which often includes the American spelling of words.
For example in Internet Explorer you can save your "favorites", which in Australia should be spelt as "favourites".
The American spelling of "practise" is "practice". There isn't two different spelling variations for the noun and verb.
Thus you'll often read articles in the press where for us in Australia, the incorrect spelling of practice/practise is used.
Because we see this so often we start to absorb the incorrect spelling and think it may be right and doubt our own spelling.
Just keep in mind when reading articles in the press, or using computer software,
where the information may come from and that should help.
PRACTICE
the principles and practice of teaching
the recommendations proved too expensive to put into practice
he abandoned medical practice for the Church
Dr Apps has a practice in Neasham Road
product placement is common practice in American movies
modern child-rearing practices
it must have taken a lot of practice to become so fluent
daily choir practices
normal business practice
a practice shot
time for target practice
bad practice
a practice run
the practice of teaching
makes a practice of saving
has been my regular practice
to sing well requires much practice
Phrases
- in practice
in theory this method is ideal - in practice it is unrealistic
- out of practice
he was out of practice at interrogation
-practice makes perfect
-be common practice
-make a practice of
-sharp practice
PRACTISE
Verb
I need to practise my French
they were practising for the Olympics
we still practise some of these rituals today
he began to practise law
he practised as a barrister
a practising architect
a practising Roman Catholic
practise shooting
practised
practising
practise the same method
had to practise in the art of speaking
practise your reading
a practised liar
with a practised hand
a practising lawyer
Phrases
practise what one preaches
practiser - noun
References:
http://oxforddictionaries.com
Macquarie dictionary Fifth Edition
Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
|
|
