Advice vs. Advise – How to Use Each Correctly
What is the Difference Between Advice and Advise?
Contents
Advice and advise have similar meanings and pronunciations. However, they are different parts of speech.
Advice is a noun, and it means suggestions meant to help someone.
- Let me offer you some fashion advice. Don’t wear that brown belt with those black shoes.
Advise is a verb, and it means to offer suggestions meant to help or inform someone.
- The scientists advised the public not to drink the tap water, because of the presence of harmful bacteria.
Now, let’s go over the specific ways each of these words are used.
Using Advice in a Sentence
When to use advice: People use advice often when speaking casually. They can either ask for advice, or offer it. Advice is information intended to help.
For example,
- I have no idea what to get my mom for her birthday. I need to ask you for your advice.
- I know he only wants to help, but he always offers such terrible advice.
Some common collocations with advice include
- give/offer/provide advice
- The wise old woman provided advice to those who asked her for it.
- seek/ask for advice
- He was too proud to ever seek advice.
- follow advice: do what the person advised
- My children would avoid so many problems if only they would follow my advice!
- expert advice: a qualified opinion
- It seems counterintuitive to exercise my injured knee, but I’m just following the expert advice of my physical therapist.
Another way to think of advice is as an opinion or recommendation on what another person should do.
Using Advise in a Sentence
When to use advise: Advise has the same meaning as advice, but it is a verb. Use it when telling people what they should do, or how they should do something.
For example,
- The instructions on the box advise users to seek medical help if they accidentally ingest the product.
- The police advised all the town’s residents to stay indoors while the killer was running through the streets.
Advise is not so common in everyday conversation, but rather in written English.
Sometimes institutions use it in the passive voice to give formal rules posted on a wall in a public area. In this case, it appears as be advised. One example is please be advised: no running or diving is allowed in the pool.
Remembering Advice vs. Advise
There is an easy way to remember which of these words is the noun and which is the verb. Keep in mind that many nouns end in ice, just like advice. These include words such as ice, rice, spice, device, and even vice itself.
Additionally, many verbs end in ise, just like advise. These include words like compromise, exercise, and despise.
Remembering that these endings are often associated with a part of speech will ensure that you choose the right word.
Outside Examples
- Suze Orman has some very direct advice for gay couples considering marriage: do it now. –USA Today
- Reitz has some advice for Disneyland visitors: Get the Disneyland app for smartphones to keep up with wait times and ride closures and use the FastPass system to reserves times for the most popular attractions. –New York Post
- Horner first became famous when he discovered nests full of fossil eggs in Montana and theorized that some dinosaur species cared for their babies. Horner won a MacArthur genius grant, advised director Steven Spielberg on the “Jurassic Park” movies, discovered countless dinosaur fossils, and excavated the specimen that’s now on display as “the nation’s T-rex” at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. –Houston Chronicle
- The goal: Stop sending huge fire trucks to smaller calls, and have qualified people on site to advise potential patients and guide them to services more efficiently. –Denver Post
Quiz: Advice vs. Advise
- Don’t give __________ to someone who doesn’t want it.
- The actor hired a professional trainer to give him fitness and nutrition _________.
- All the experts __________ dog owners to properly socialize their pets.
- The president of the country invited a team of economists to __________ him regarding creating a stimulus plan.
- Please be _____________ to keep your luggage with you at all times.
Article Summary
Should I use advice or advise? These two words have the same meaning but function as different parts of speech. Therefore, they aren’t interchangeable.
- Advice is a noun, and is a recommendation, or an opinion on what someone should do.
- Advise is a verb, and means to recommend or offer helpful information.
Quiz Answers
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