Assume v. Presume

[EEPhil]

Practice v. Practise.

Thanks very much! I thought I understood the usage - now I'm just confused.
* - If "skill" is a noun, it seems reasonable that it should be practice.
** - any search I do on "practise ground" returns "practice ground" results at the top. You might use doctor's practice to refer to the surgery. Is it a similar thought process that calls that tatty field a practice ground?

 

[Black Hole]

now I'm just confused.

Join the club!

The real problem, as I see it, is that incorrect spellings are so widespread, it is hard to recognise what’s right.

 

[Black Hole]

Practice v. Practise.

The former is the noun, and the latter the verb - but in some cases I have trouble working out which is appropriate. One goes to practise one's football skills at a club practice. Playing football at the top level requires skill and practice*, and we train at the practise** ground.

* I'm pretty sure this should be a noun

** adjective! I suppose this should be "practising", but the -ing seems to be dropped these days... so is s or c appropriate???

** or is that a pronoun?

 

[Black Hole]

to wait till - ✓︎

to wait ’til - ✓︎

to wait til - ✘︎

 

[EEPhil]

Not sure about "to wait till".

 

[Trev]

Nor me!

 

[Black Hole]

Are you kidding? Chambers Family Dictionary, 1981 edition (second definition):

 

[Trev]

OK, you win. (again)

 

[EEPhil]

Well I never. And there was me thinking that meaning of til/till was a lazy (or wrong) abbreviation of until.

 

[Black Hole]

TBH, I used to think the same.

 

[MikeSh]

"Car ploughs into Southampton building as driver rushed to hospital"
(Southampton Daily Echo)
I can think of two ways that headline could be correct, but of course the story under it reveals that the driver was taken to hospital after he crashed into a building.

 

[Black Hole]

Change the "as" to "and" to make it close.

 

[EEPhil]

"Car ploughs into Southampton building as driver rushed to hospital"
(Southampton Daily Echo)
I can think of two ways that headline could be correct, but of course the story under it reveals that the driver was taken to hospital after he crashed into a building.

But was he rushing himself to the hospital when he crashed?

 

[MikeSh]

But was he rushing himself to the hospital when he crashed?

So his rushing to the hospital resulted in him being rushed to the hospital? Possible ... as is "He parked on a hill near the hospital, got out and rushed to the hospital but forgot to set the handbrake."
But the article only says:
"Residents of the building on Bitterne Road West were given a rude awakening when the car smashed through a wall and into a downstairs flat in the early hours of yesterday morning.
Destroying half of the wall, bricks were sent flying through the air, smashing a window of the house next door and breaking a fence just before 4am.
The 25-year-old driver had to be rushed to hospital for treatment and the road closed after the incident that left residents ‘shocked’."

I do like the possibility that the car might have crashed at 2am but the bricks only arrived at the fence later. (Apparently the road was reopened at 4:30 after all the debris had been cleared - quick work.)
I'm also intrigued by the residents being 'shocked' rather than shocked.

 

[Trev]

I think that they parenthesised shocked to indicate that the residents were in a state of shock, but not really as shock is a medical thing. Surprised perhaps, but shocked, no, other than the possibility of the person inside the flat, where shock could have been a possibility.

 

[Black Hole]

Parenthesised? Quoted. The quotes simply imply that somebody said they were shocked rather than the reporter's own judgement.

 

[EEPhil]

So his rushing to the hospital resulted in him being rushed to the hospital?

It's possible. Ambulances have been known to be rushing somewhere, have an accident, and then the paramedics/patients require transport to hospital. The man could have been rushing his pregnant wife to hospital, have a smash, and then get a lift in one of those green and yellow buses. (Not the ones with Morrisons on the side!)

 

[MikeSh]

Not the ones with Morrisons on the side!

I wouldn't be too sure about that these days

 

[antipodean]

I think that they parenthesised shocked to indicate that the residents were in a state of shock, but not really as shock is a medical thing. Surprised perhaps, but shocked, no, other than the possibility of the person inside the flat, where shock could have been a possibility.

I have a work colleague who persists in using the term 'shocked' when another word such as 'surprised' would be more appropriate.

 

[gomezz]

"Startled" is often the better word.