Advice is a suggestion or recommendation about what someone should do in a particular situation. When your teacher gives you advice about studying for a test, she's sharing her experience and knowledge to help you succeed. When a coach offers advice about improving your free throw, he's pointing out something that could make you better.

Good advice comes from someone who knows more about a situation than you do, or who can see things from a different angle. Your parents might give you advice about choosing friends wisely. A librarian might offer advice about finding the right book for a research project. An older student might share advice about adjusting to middle school.

The tricky part about advice is deciding whether to take it. Not all advice is equally valuable. Some people give advice without really understanding your situation. Others offer unsolicited advice, meaning you didn't ask for it and might not want it. When someone constantly tells you what to do without being asked, their advice can feel more annoying than helpful.

When you advise someone, you're giving them advice. Someone who gives advice professionally, like about money or legal matters, is called an advisor or adviser (both spellings work). Remember: advice is the noun (the suggestion itself), while advise is the verb (the act of giving that suggestion).