Question

Read the following sentence, spot the errors, and correct them:
He did not listen to his father’s advices.

Answer 1

Hint: There are words in the English language which remain the same whether used as countable or uncountable. For e.g., Sheep, news, etc.

Complete answer:

The noun “advice” is a word that can be used can be both countable or uncountable. The usage depends on the context of the sentence and the purpose. In a more general sense, commonly used contexts, the plural form will also be ‘advice’ only. Therefore, the correct form of the above-given sentence will be, “He did not listen to his father’s advice.” instead of “He did not listen to his father’s ‘advices’.”Whether one is referring to single advice or multiple, ‘advice’ word is used. The word ‘Advices’ is incorrect. For e.g., ‘I need your advice on something important tonight.’ Here, the word ‘advice’ refers to single advice. Let us take another example, ‘More the people, more will be the opinions and advice.’ Here, ‘advice’ refers to more than one advice. So, for both situations ‘advice’ is used and thus, the given sentence is incorrect. Also, here in this sentence probably the father has given his son advice about something. Advice that is specific about a certain thing thus, the sentence would use “advice” only and not advice. “

Note: in more specific contexts, the plural form can also be advices, e.g. in reference to various types of advices or a collection of advices; but as such the word is uncountable.