On Mon, 20 Nov 2017, G. Branden Robinson wrote:
At 2017-11-20T11:35:13+0000, Ralph Corderoy wrote:
Hi Branden,
Are you familiar with the U.K. practice[3] that says an abbreviation
doesn't get a period if the abbreviation ends with the final letter of
the abbreviated word?
Nothing has been brought to a stop, unlike, say, Prof. Moriarty.
[3] en_GB: practise
We English use practice for the noun, and practise for the verb.
Just like advice and advise.
Curioser and curiouser! I have seen practise used in practise as a noun
many times. Here's a prestigious example:
https://www.springer.com/us/book/9783642391644
In this case I am taking prestige as proportional to price tag. ;-)
Sadly it is US variant. Look at the URL.
English as spoken by most of the world has lots of examples where 'ice' is
for the noun and 'ise' is the verb. Like licence/license.
Noah Webster pushed for spelling reform after he published his 1828
American Dictionary of the English Language. Those reforms only really
took off in the US. I could say the rest of the world was smart enough to
largely ignore Webster's efforts but English has so many irregularities
cause by its roots in Latin and Greek, that his ideas are not without
merit.
Also, when spelling programs came out, Webster's digital copy of their
words was $100 and the British Oxford was over $5000. It does not take a
genius to figure out which one dominates a lot of software tools. The
rules used by these tools to create British spelling from an American
English database often leave a lot to be desired.
When in doubt, check the Oxford dictionary or better still, there is also
Fowler's Modern English Usage.
Regards - Damian
Pacific Engineering Systems International, 277-279 Broadway, Glebe NSW 2037
Ph:+61-2-8571-0847 .. Fx:+61-2-9692-9623 | unsolicited email not wanted here
Views & opinions here are mine and not those of any past or present employer
