“I before E except after C” is a grammar rule that will help you with remembering the spelling of some words. It is important that you do not rely on this rule completely, as there are exceptions and words that can trick you.
The saying i before e, except after c is supposed to help us spell correctly, but it only reliably identifies the category of words that includes receive and conceited. It's a good quick reminder for this common pattern, but keep in mind that there are many exceptions to this “rule,” like seize, height, and albeit.
The claim states, “There are 923 words that break the 'i' before 'e' rule. Only 44 words actually follow that rule.” With this clarification, many of the aforementioned 923 words become less defiant. Words like “science” or “efficient” – where the “i” follows the “c” – have a different sound.
"I before E, except after C" is a mnemonic rule of thumb for English spelling. If one is unsure whether a word is spelled with the digraph ei or ie, the rhyme suggests that the correct order is ie unless the preceding letter is c, in which case it may be ei.
Rule for -ie and -ei Write i before e. Except after c. Or when sounds like ā As in neighbor and weigh. You can avoid most misspellings of words that contain the -ie or -ei vowel.
Here are some common exceptions to the above rule: either, neither, caffeine, codeine, counterfeit, foreign, forfeit, height, leisure, protein, their, weird, seize, seizure.
The results were (to misuse a popular ei-word) inconceivable. Things started off well for the old mnemonic: Cunningham found that, out of the hundreds of thousands of words he studied, “i” did indeed come before “e” roughly 75% of the time.
The “I before E Except after c” full rhyme is as follows. The rule says you should have the letter “i” before “e.” However, when there is a letter “c” in the word, the letter “e” will go first before the letter “i.” For instance, words with “cei” like “ceiling” do not follow the I before E spelling rule.
“I before e, except after c when the sound is 'ee,'" as one formulation would have it. Or, “I before e except after c, or when sounding like A, as in neighbor or weigh.” But these formulations, too, have their exceptions. “Species” or “financier” for the former, for example, or “being” or “counterfeit” for the latter.
With all of the exceptions to the rule, it can be tricky to know when to use the mnemonic 'i' before 'e' except after 'c'. To give yourself the best chance of spelling a word correctly, remember this: Use the 'i' before 'e' if it makes the sound 'ee', and keep the 'e' after 'i' if the makes the sound 'igh'.
The Silent E Rule in Spelling
The silent-e rule is as such: When “e” is the last letter in a word and the preceding syllable has just one vowel, the first vowel is usually long and the “e” is silent.
There are three general rules for suffixes. First, double the final consonant if the vowel sound is short. Double the consonant if the original word is two syllables long and ends with a vowel before a consonant. Finally, if the suffix starts with a vowel and the base word has a silent "e" at the end, drop the "e."
It goes, “'I' before 'E,' except after 'C. '” It's a lesson many kids learn in school. But does this rule always hold up? The answer is no.
Most English language learners will find it challenging to learn English verb tenses, phrasal verbs, articles, spelling, pronunciation, and idioms. This is because these are features of English that are very different from most other languages in the world, or which simply require a lot of memorization.
For words ending in 'or' add an 'e' (unless the 'or' is a suffix). Think of words such as shore, before, score, but not visitor, doctor or tractor because in these words the 'or' is a suffix meaning a person who or a thing that.
creating a long vowel sound by putting an 'e' on the end of the word. This is often referred to as the “bossy 'e'” or the “magic 'e'”. (“The 'e' on the end makes the vowel say its name. The 'e' is silent.”) Examples are “bake”, “seed”, “hike”, “poke”, “mute”.
Common short E spellings are vowel-consonant patterns (“read” and “yes”) and “ea” (“head” and “dead”). The words “said, said, friend, guest” and “again” are non-phonetic words pronounced with the short e-sound. Each syllable of each word must have at least one vowel.
When e is the last letter in a word, and there's only one other vowel in that syllable, the first vowel in that syllable is usually long and the e is silent, as in sale and in•side. This syllable pattern is called “vowel-consonant-e.” Some teachers call this the “silent e” rule. Some call it the “magic e” rule.
“Receive” is a verb that typically means “get,” “be given,” or “be the recipient of” something. Some people misspell this word with an “-ie-” instead of an “-ei-.” But “recieve” is always an error, so make sure not to use this spelling in your writing!
Another way to remember this is: “I before e except after c, or when sounding like a as in neighbor and weigh.” When the ie/ei combination is not pronounced ee, it is usually spelled ei. Oi or Oy: Use oi in the middle of a word and use oy at the end of a word. Examples: boil, soil, toil, boy, toy.
RULE: When adding a vowel suffix to a word ending in -e the -e is dropped. (Also remember that for words ending in -ce or -ge, the -e is kept if the vowel suffix begins with -a or -o.) RULE: Adding a consonant suffix does not change the spelling of a word.
To make the /ɔɪ/ sound:
Round your lips into an “o” shape as you do so. Then, as you vibrate your vocal cords, lift your tongue high in the mouth and shift it toward the front, to say /ɪ/. The transition between these two positions should be very quick.
The /eɪ/ sound is made as you move your mouth. You need to move your tongue up from /e/ to /ɪ/, and close your mouth slightly. This is a common sound; eg, for the 'ay' in 'pay', the 'a' in 'shade', the 'ai' in 'tail', the 'ei' in 'eight', the 'ea' in 'steak' and the 'ey' in 'Hey!' .
Examples of words that contain /i/ sound: hill, ink, village, women, sit, fit, fifth, rich, trick, nymph, rhythm, symbol, pretty, wicked, lady, carry, private, bin, lick, bit, depart, ladies, cities, savage, houses, party, hit, hissed, etc.