i before e except after c
When I was at school – many years ago – I was taught the spelling rule “i before e except after c”.
It was very useful to help me remember to put the i before the e such words as:
- believe
- relief
- field
And to put the e before the i in such words as:
- receive
- deceive
- ceiling
But it didn’t help with these words, where the e comes before the i, even though they don’t follow a c:
- neighbour
- weigh
Perhaps we can explain them because the ei is not pronounced as ee but as ay.
And then there are words where the i comes before the e, even after a c:
- science
- society
Here the explanation might be that the ie is not pronounced as a single ee but as two separate syllables i and e.
There are other oddities such as:
- their
- height
- leisure
- either
- neither
- sufficient
- foreign
In none of these words is the ie or the ei normally pronounced as ee.
So some people have suggested that the rule be changed to “When the sound is an ee, i before except after c”.
But that doesn’t explain:
- seize
- Keith
- Eid
- caffeine
- species
- being
In fact, there are so many exceptions to the rule “i before e, except after c” that it is rarely taught nowadays. This clip from a popular comedy quiz show on British television might explain this – or just make the whole thing more confusing!
Posted by Graham
