notice

To notice something is for it to reach you when you were not looking for it. The scratch on the door, a friend's new haircut, the smell of gas in the hall — a second ago it was not there, and now you cannot stop seeing it.

The noun is a different creature, and it splits three ways. A notice is a printed sign put where people will read it — a notice on the board, a notice in the window. Notice is also warning time: your landlord gives you a month's notice, you hand in your notice when you leave a job, and anything arranged at short notice was arranged in a hurry. Third, notice means attention, as in take no notice of him. Keep the verb plain — you notice something, and there is no preposition after it.

Phrases it lives in

• at short notice — with very little warning
• hand in your notice — tell your employer you are leaving
• until further notice — until somebody says otherwise
• take no notice — pay no attention at all

Also practised as

• nounThe formal warning you give before leaving your job.