“Advice” and “advise” are closely related, but they do different grammatical jobs. Checking the job in the sentence is more reliable than choosing by appearance.
The common-errors chapter in OET Writing Medicine Made Simple: Advanced Techniques and Practice for Doctors highlights this pair. This guide provides original practice with non-clinical examples.
Use advice as a noun
Advice names the guidance. In ordinary use it is uncountable: “some advice” or “a piece of advice,” rather than “an advice.”
Original examples
“The tutor provided advice about paragraph organisation.”
“I would appreciate your advice on the next practice task.”
Use advise as a verb
Advise describes giving guidance. Its form can change with tense: “advises,” “advised” and “advising.” Check the subject and the structure that follows.
Choose the correct word
“Please ___ the learner about the available sessions.” → advise.
“Your ___ would be helpful.” → advice.
The first needs an action verb; the second needs a noun.
Check the meaning as well as spelling
“Was advised to attend” does not mean “attended.” Correct grammar should not hide a change from a recommendation to a completed action.
Write one request using “advise,” one summary using “advice” and one past-tense sentence using “advised.” Then check whether each accurately describes the action in your fictional notes.
A focused grammar review can make proofreading more useful than repeatedly reading a draft without a specific target.
Explore OET Writing for Doctors — Course 3 to see the course outline, current availability and enrolment options. Use the worked exercise above to identify a skill you would like to practise next.
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OET Writing for Doctors — Course 3
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Source: 64 OET Writing Doctors.epub, Jobins Training. Examples labelled original or illustrative were written for this article. Independent exam preparation; no affiliation with or endorsement by the examining body. Practice does not predict an official score.