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British English makes the distinction between 'practise' (verb) and 'practice' (noun).

Based on this, I would judge the following sentence as incorrect:

In practise, computers often crash.

Nevertheless, I see it frequently. Could 'practise' possibly be a verb in this phrase?

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Verbs don't take prepositions. That's why gerunds got invented. – RegDwighт♦ Apr 13 '12 at 21:08
General Reference. Also, the verb/noun spelling distinction isn't just Br. Eng. – FumbleFingers Apr 13 '12 at 21:17
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The verb/noun spelling distinction isn't present in Am. Eng. because they're both spelled with a 'c' (more precisely, two 'c's). – Peter Shor Apr 14 '12 at 20:22

1 Answer

up vote 11 down vote accepted

I agree, the usage is incorrect. It would be a noun in that sentence, synonymous (or almost so) with "in fact" or "in reality", and an antonym to "in theory".

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