[Vocabulary] "Practice"--countable or uncounable

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Daryl.L

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Hi
I found two sentences with the word "practice" in them from dictionary.

1. I need to get some more practice before I take my driving test.

2. She's never at home because she spends all her free time at hockey practices.


I don't know why the "practice" in sentence one doesn't need to be plural?

Thanks!

Daryl
 

emsr2d2

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Hi
I found two sentences with the word "practice" in them from dictionary.

1. I need to get some more practice before I take my driving test.

2. She's never at home because she spends all her free time at hockey practices.


I don't know why the "practice" in sentence one doesn't need to be plural?

Thanks!

Daryl

In sentence 1, practice is simply used as a general noun. The sentence means that the writer needs to practice more before taking her driving test and the sentence might actually have been better written as "I need to practice more before taking my driving test".

In sentence 2, the word "practices" replaces "practice sessions" and is therefore plural. The writer is talking about very specific times/hours when someone is at her "hockey practice sessions", shortened to "hockey practices".

Having said that, as far as I'm concerned, if the second sentence had said "She's never at home because she spends all her free time at hockey practice", I would not have said it was incorrect.
 

Daryl.L

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In sentence 1, practice is simply used as a general noun. The sentence means that the writer needs to practice more before taking her driving test and the sentence might actually have been better written as "I need to practice more before taking my driving test".

In sentence 2, the word "practices" replaces "practice sessions" and is therefore plural. The writer is talking about very specific times/hours when someone is at her "hockey practice sessions", shortened to "hockey practices".

Having said that, as far as I'm concerned, if the second sentence had said "She's never at home because she spends all her free time at hockey practice", I would not have said it was incorrect.

Thanks for indicating the usage of the word "practice". I appreciate your help. So does it mean the rule of using "practice or practices" is very flexible? It doesn't really matter if I carelessly use the word "practice" with or without the "s" at the end?
 

SoothingDave

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Thanks for indicating the usage of the word "practice". I appreciate your help. So does it mean the rule of using "practice or practices" is very flexible? It doesn't really matter if I carelessly use the word "practice" with or without the "s" at the end?

Not a teacher.

Your conclusion is wrong. "Practices" is plural only in the context of sports, in my experience.
 

Raymott

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Not a teacher.

Your conclusion is wrong. "Practices" is plural only in the context of sports, in my experience.
Perhaps In AmE.

Are there any medical practices in this area?
These dubious practices are not company policy.
 

Daryl.L

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My dad 's cooking skills have been improved through cooking lessons and hands-on practices.

I make up this sentence, so is it correct?

Thanks
 

Daryl.L

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could someone give me an answer please?
 

Daryl.L

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No, you need "practice" here.

So you mean my sentence is wrong.

"My dad 's cooking skills have been improved through cooking lessons and hands-on practices."

I should use "practice" instead?
 

Raymott

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So you mean my sentence is wrong.
Yes, that's what I meant.
"My dad 's cooking skills have been improved through cooking lessons and hands-on practices."
That is wrong.
I should use "practice" instead?
Yes.
Your sentence is wrong. You need to use 'practice' here.
 

emsr2d2

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I would say that it's countable or uncountable, and therefore singular or plural, depending on which one you choose it to be!!

I need more practice before my driving test. Uncountable - singular.
I need five more practices before my driving test. Countable - plural.

He goes to hockey practice every week. Uncountable - singular.
He goes to three hockey practices every week. Countable - plural.

As Raymott said, don't forget that we use "practices" to mean other things too. His examples were good.
 

Daryl.L

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But since I use the plural of lessons, shouldn't I also use the plural of practice?

Regarding the sentence, I think it means my dad has many cooking lessons and many hands-on practices so his cooking skills have been improved. So I think I should use "practices"

Please tell me what 's wrong with my thinking. I really want improve my writing skills.

Thanks!
 

emsr2d2

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But since I use the plural of lessons, shouldn't I also use the plural of practice?

Regarding the sentence, I think it means my dad has many cooking lessons and many hands-on practices so his cooking skills have been improved. So I think I should use "practices"

Please tell me what 's wrong with my thinking. I really want improve my writing skills.

Thanks!

There's nothing wrong with your thinking. It's perfectly logical. Unfortunately, English isn't always logical!!!

I agree that the sentence means that the dad has had lots of cookery lessons, but when it comes to then using practice, we are just far more likely to say "My dad has had many cookery lessons and a lot of hands-on practice..."

To be entirely honest, I don't think I can work out how to explain it. It's just one of those things!!!!
 

Raymott

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But since I use the plural of lessons, shouldn't I also use the plural of practice?
No. The nouns are different in quality.
Regarding the sentence, I think it means my dad has many cooking lessons and many hands-on practices so his cooking skills have been improved. So I think I should use "practices"

Lessons are usually time-limited discrete things; practice is not. You are referring to the number of lessons, but the amount of practice.
There are quite a few nouns that behave this way, that is, they take the singular or plural depending on the meaning.

"Exercise" is another example.
"I need to do more exercises on nouns." Correct, because 'exercises' in this context mean those discrete problems in the back of your textbook.
"I'm overweight. I need to do more exercise." Correct. It is not the number of exercises that you need to increase, but the amount.

"That dog is malnourished. It needs more food." 'Foods' is a word, but the dog doesn't need a greater number of foods; it needs a greater quantity of food.

Your father needs a larger amount of practice, not a greater number of practices - although the latter could possibly achieve the former.


Please tell me what 's wrong with my thinking.
You probably haven't come across nouns like this before, or haven't noticed that, when amount or quantity rather than number is the issue, the noun often becomes uncountable.
I really want improve my writing skills.

Thanks!
R.
 

Daryl.L

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Thank emsr2d2 and Raymott for teaching me patiently. It will take me a while to fully understand it and use the word right. The large paragraph of explanation really helps!
 
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