<B>The British Council?s language clinic with ?Dr Danny?</B>

Hello and welcome to the English Language Clinic. This week, I have received several questions regarding ?advice?. ?Advice? is a noun (n); the ?-ice? ending is pronounced ?ice?. ?Advise?, on the other hand, is a verb (v); the ??ise? ending is pronounced ?eyes?.

?Advice? can be ?accepted?, ?acted upon? or ?solicited?; it can be ?silly?, ?sound?, ?straight? or ?unpalatable?. A short ?piece of advice? about life is called an ?adage?, if this is repeated by many people over a long period of time, it is known as a ?proverb?. If a piece of ?advice? is particularly well worded (it is poetic or witty) and expresses a general truth, it is known as an ?aphorism? (from Greek ?to define?).

Some ?advice? is given so frequently that it becomes meaningless, such statements are known as ?platitudes?; for example, "Be careful!". Many ?proverbs? and ?aphorisms? are considered to be ?platitudes? because they are used so often. Individual words and phrases, which are overused in this manner (they are ?hackneyed?) are known as ?clichés?.

It is difficult to write about ?clichés? without using one; for example, "Clichés should be avoided" and "Clichés are usually true" are both good examples of ?clichés?. The use of ?clichés? is considered to be a sign of laziness of thought; rather than expressing your ideas and opinions in a new, creative and interesting way, it is much easier to use a pre-existing phrase, which might not "hit the nail on the head" but will "do the trick".

Please send your comments, queries and questions to "Dr Danny" by emailing the following address [email protected]

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