About Practise and Practice

 Greetings,

The articles in this blog are about the use of English, mostly they are concerning older forms of English, however there are certain terms which are necessary to discuss to understand the reason that I came about this particular topic, some of which have already been explained. My interest in Elizabethan English did not originally come from reading Shakespeare, though there was some interest from this later on, it came from reading Elizabethan fencing texts, facsimiles of these texts to be precise, as close to the source material as possible. I am an historian by training and the less distance between the source and the reader is the best. I began studying Elizabethan English so I could produce it and so I could understand these treatises better. Herein lies the discussion, the difference between practice and practise.

Both of these words appear in the Elizabethan texts, some modern readers may put this off to a typographical error on the part of the author or the publisher. This will be the modern reader's influence, and their misunderstanding of the difference between these two words informing them in this case. There is a difference between practice and practise, and it is not mere spelling.

Some would claim that the spelling as "practice" is the British English form, while "practise" is the American English spelling of the word. For these people, here is the only difference between the two words, and they would be incorrect in their understanding of the words. This is not the case at all.

There is a difference between these two words, a difference in meaning between the two words. It is not a mere difference of one letter in the same place it is the difference of meaning between the words. To put the difference between the two words into a sentence: 

"You practise your practice to become better at your practice." 

Practise refers to a series of repetitive actions used to reinforce actions and gain proficiency, while practice refers to a methodology of actions, the application of an idea or method, hence you may practise a practice as indicated in the sentence above. You practise the method which is described in the practice. They are thus not the same word, and should not be used as such, but like the misuse of many words today these words are likely to fall on deaf ears.

Cheers,

Henry.