Hello everyone!

This week’s word pair is advice and advise. These two can be tricky because their meanings–like their spellings and pronunciations–are very similar. They both refer to the provision of guidance or encouragement to somebody else, but one word is a verb and one is a noun. Advice (pronounced with an “s” sound) is the noun form, referring to the actual guidance or encouragement provided. Advise (pronounced with a “z” sound) is the verb form, referring to the act of providing that guidance or encouragement. So, I gave my friend some advice and I advised my friend.

The best way I can think of to remember which is which is to think alphabetically. Advice comes before advise in the alphabet, just like noun would be alphabetized before verb. It’s not a perfect method, but hopefully it will help you distinguish between the two. At worst, as long as you remember that the noun and the verb forms are different, you can look up which you should use in that instance of your writing.

I’ll be back next time with another word pair. Until then!