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Audio: A word of advice 一句忠告
A Q&A programme about the phrase 'a word of advice'.
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"Hello, could you please tell me the difference between 'a word of advice' and 'a piece of advice'? Are they both correct? Thank you."
Madeline, Hong Kong
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Both a word of advice and a piece of advice are correct although there are some differences.
A word of advice is normally advice given about an imminent situation. The advice could be cautionary, for example, advice given by a father to his son to avoid a difficult situation, or it could be positive advice such as advising something for a positive action.
A piece of advice is reference to a single piece of advice. To quantify the word advice you can also say two pieces of advice or three pieces of advice.
Please bear in mind that the word advice is an uncountable noun and you must never say 'an advice', which is wrong.
The verb form of advice is advise. When you give advice to people you are advising them.
Join Yang Li for more examples and explanations.
If you have a question you'd like us to answer, you can write to us 按鍵 @BBC英倫網英語教學 or email: questions.chinaelt@bbc.co.uk