Use I before E except after C or when sounded as I as in Einstein or A as in weigh. Neither, weird, foreign, leisure, seize, forfeit, and height are the common exceptions spelled right, but don't let the C-I-E-N words get you uptight.
By
Rachel
on March 06, 2007
The version most people say, "I before E except after C or when sounding like A as in neihbor and weigh" doesn't work that well. The version I learned, "I before E except after C or when sounding like A as in neighbor or weigh. Except seize and seizure, also in leisure" is rather incomplete and doesn't deal with things like their, weird, science.
This version is more complete and accurate, and also a much less good rhyme.
I was looking for a different version of the rhyme when I found this one at:
http://www.spelling.org/Books/Mastering_I_before_E.htm
Agreed
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Discussion (15)
I always used to say "I before E, except after C, and except when the word is weird." It works better out loud where you can't see whether "weird" is in quotes or not. :)
"Neither" isn't an exception once you have an "I-like-Einstein" clause in your rule
It is when you pronounce it Nee thur as opposed to Nigh thur. I use both. Same with Either / Either... that works better spoken out loud.
You say tomato, I say tomato. That whole thing.
English has too many words with seemingly "ancient" spellings.
'Height' is also covered by the Einstein rule. ;)
You're right... which makes me wonder if there is another way to pronounce it. I didn't come up with that one; it's just much more thorough than most. It's covered for me.
Gah - I duped. Sorry
not a dupe, brian. yours is way simpler.
also, less accurate ( :
The English language is broken. It's a shame intelligent and creative people have had to resort to hacks like this in order to fix it.
Just imagine all the poetry, music, literature and jokes that never got written because someone had to waste their time devising stuff like this.
"It's a shame intelligent and creative people have had to resort to hacks like this in order to fix it."
Did they? Huh.
D'A
... has trouble considering playing with language a waste of time
I'd say we resorting to hacks to fix our ability to use it and that it is not much of a shame. Having read a lot of poetry, heard a lot of music, and generally been aware of much of the art that has been made of the English language, I have to say that honestly, if what we're missing is more of the bottom 50%, I don't so much mind as I celebrate. And I doubt that much of what we're missing is of above-average quality.
I could never memorize a song that didn't have rhythm. But I did learn to spell based on the sound and merits of the word alone.
I can correctly spell any word or name that uses the latin or modified-latin alphabet, five nines of the time if I know the word, two nines if I know the language, and one nine if I know neither.
what does "five nines" mean here?
Vynce: 99.999%.
D'A
ah. excellent. not using that idiom all that often, my only thought was five ninths, which is not an impressive fraction.