Advice vs advise: noun or verb, with examples and a quiz

You give advice. You advise someone. Advice is the noun, the recommendation itself, and advise is the verb, the act of giving it: "My advice is to wait" and "I advise you to wait" make the same recommendation. The two also sound different. Advice ends in an s sound and rhymes with ice; advise ends in a z sound and rhymes with prize.

To check a sentence, ask what the word is doing. If it's something a person does, and could change to advised or advising, write advise. If it's a thing you can give, take or ignore, and could follow some or a piece of, write advice. Swapping in recommend is a rougher check, because recommend doesn't take all of advise's patterns: "She advises startups on pricing" is correct, but "She recommends startups on pricing" isn't.

Advice vs advise at a glance

Is "please advise" correct?

Yes. "Please advise" is grammatical and has a long life in business email, where it means "please tell me what to do" or "please let me know". It uses the verb, so please advice is always wrong.

Whether you should write it is a different question. On its own at the end of an email, it can read as stiff, and to some readers as curt, because it asks for a decision without saying which one. A direct question makes the decision you need clearer:

In Strokes, you can select an email that ends with "please advise," press ⌘K and ask the Strokes Assistant to turn the ending into a direct question, giving it the options and the deadline.

For more ways to ask, follow up and close a work email, see the professional email examples and how to end an email.

How to use advice, the noun

In its everyday sense, a recommendation, advice is uncountable, like information or furniture: it takes no a or an and no plural. To count it, put a counting word in front:

• Can I give you some advice? (not an advice)
• Here is a piece of advice I wish I'd had.
• A word of advice: back up your files before the update.
• She gave me three pieces of advice, and I used two. (not three advices)

The verbs that usually go with it:

• give, offer, share advice: He offered advice nobody had asked for.
• ask for, seek, get advice: Seek legal advice before you sign.
• take, follow, act on advice: I took your advice and cut the first chapter.
• ignore, disregard advice: The board ignored its auditors' advice.

Fixed phrases include on the advice of (on the advice of her editor), against medical advice and an advice column, where advice works as a modifier.

How to use advise, the verb

Advise means to recommend, to counsel, or, in formal writing, to inform. It is a regular verb: advise, advises, advised, advising. The common patterns:

• advise someone to do something: The guide advised us to start before dawn.
• advise someone on or about something: She advises startups on pricing.
• advise against something: Most guides advise against hiking the ridge alone.
• advise that…: We advise that you keep a copy of the receipt.
• advise (formal: inform): Please advise us of any change of address.
• passive: Passengers are advised to keep their bags with them. Be advised that the road closes at six.

The past participle also makes two everyday adjectives: ill-advised (an ill-advised tweet) and well-advised (You'd be well-advised to read the contract first).

Adviser or advisor?

Both are correct and both mean a person who advises. Merriam-Webster lists adviser first, with advisor as a variant, and notes that some writers treat advisor as the more formal spelling for official posts. Many organizations settle the choice in their house style, so check yours first. The adjective is always advisory, with an o: an advisory board, a weather advisory. Choose one spelling for the person, note it on your style sheet and use it throughout a document.

Look-alike pairs: c for the noun, s for the verb

Advice and advise belong to a small family in which the noun is spelled with c and the verb with s. Some members work the same way on both sides of the Atlantic; two are British only.

Examples of advice and advise in sentences

1. My best advice for a first draft is to finish it.
2. I'd advise you to finish the first draft before you edit.
3. The lawyer advised the company not to comment.
4. The company followed its lawyer's advice and didn't comment.
5. Can you advise me on which plan suits a small team?
6. She asked her mentor for advice about the job offer.
7. Visitors are advised that the gallery closes at five.
8. That was the most useful piece of advice in the whole workshop.
9. We strongly advise against sharing your password.
10. The airline's travel advice changed overnight.
11. Please advise the team of the new deadline by Friday.
12. He advises three nonprofits on fundraising.
13. Her advice to new teachers fits on an index card.
14. Moving the launch would be ill-advised this close to the holidays.
15. On the advice of his editor, he cut the prologue.
16. Don't take financial advice from a stranger online.
17. I was advised to bring two forms of ID.
18. The committee will advise the board in March.
19. Thanks for the advice; I'll try it tonight.
20. Who advised you to send it without a cover letter?

Common mistakes

• Can you give me an advise? → Can you give me some advice?
• I advice you to read the terms. → I advise you to read the terms.
• Thanks for all the advices. → Thanks for all the advice.
• Please advice. → Please advise.
• She gave me a good advice. → She gave me good advice, or a good piece of advice.
• We were adviced to wait. → We were advised to wait.

More pairs to check the same way: principal vs principle, led vs lead and, for a spelling choice rather than a mistake, judgement vs judgment.

Quick quiz: advice or advise?

1. The archivist will ____ you on which records to request.
2. That's the best ____ anyone has given me.
3. I'd ____ against booking the last flight of the day.
4. Here's a piece of ____: label every cable.
5. Residents are ____ to stay indoors during the storm.
6. She writes an ____ column for the local paper.
7. Could you ____ us of your arrival time?
8. He ignored the ____ and paid for it later.