There are so few words where the ei spelling for the /ee/ sound follows the letter c that it is easier to learn the specific words: receive, conceive, deceive (+ the related words receipt, conceit, deceit), perceive and ceiling.
| -ei not after c | -ie after c |
|---|---|
| forfeit | deficient |
| height | efficient |
| neighbor | fancies |
| seize | glaciers |
What word has EI after C?
There are so few words where the ei spelling for the /ee/ sound follows the letter c that it is easier to learn the specific words: receive, conceive, deceive (+ the related words receipt, conceit, deceit), perceive and ceiling.
What words have ie or ei in them?
either, neither, caffeine, codeine, counterfeit, foreign, forfeit, height, leisure, protein, their, weird, seize, seizure.
When can u use the spelling pattern I before E, except after C?
“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.
What words are spelled ei?
Words with the letters ei not coming after c and not sounded as aeither/neither.feisty.foreign.forfeit.heifer.height.heist.leisure.More items...
What is a 5 letter word with IE?
5 Letter Words With IE In The Middle – Wordle ClueCHIEFTRIESCRIERPIECEALIENADIEUBRIEFGRIEFSPIELQUIETFLIESORIELYIELDSKIESPLIES7 more rows•May 19, 2022
What is a word with 5 letters starts with an I?
5-letter words starting with IIAMATiambiidiomidiotIdismIdistidjitidledidleridles25 more rows
What are the three rules to spelling out numbers?
The Chicago Manual of Style recommends spelling out the numbers zero through one hundred and using figures thereafter—except for whole numbers used in combination with hundred, thousand, hundred thousand, million, billion, and beyond (e.g., two hundred; twenty-eight thousand; three hundred thousand; one million).
How can I use EI?
2:074:39When to use "ie" and "ei" in the words | Explained with examples - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipComes directly after a c and the rule states that if it comes after a c. It should be ei. Um so itMoreComes directly after a c and the rule states that if it comes after a c. It should be ei. Um so it does follow this rule. Another example to this rule is beige the color beige. Again it has ei.
Why is height spelled with EI?
So height is spelled as a compromise, maintaining the pronunciation of "hight" while being spelled with ei to reflect the Old English ties. The ei form is older--as the OED notes, hight was created in later assimilation with the word high. High, on the other hand, maintains its Middle English roots.
What letters can come after C?
English Alphabet#Capital LetterName1Aa2Bbee3Ccee4Ddee22 more rows
What are the long E words?
Long E WordsLong E WordsCategoryWord Family / SoundbleachVowel Team - EA-eachbleakVowel Team - EA-eakbleatVowel Team - EA-eatbleedVowel Team - EE-eed152 more rows
What words have ie in the middle?
5-Letter Words with IE in the Middle Listalien.brief.chief.cried.crier.dried.drier.field.More items...•
What are 5 letter words with E in the middle?
Five letter Words E as the middle letteradept.agent.ahead.alert.amend.arena.avert.beech.More items...•
What are the IE words?
ie wordsfieldThe sheep were let loose in the field.siegeThe castle was under siege.priestThe priest blessed the people.fierceThe tiger was fierce.piercePierce the lid before cooking.13 more rows
What four letter word that has IE in it?
4-letter words ending with IEamieaniedaieErieflieirieItiekaieMSIEOkie8 more rows
How do you use IE in a sentence?
I.e. means “that is,” as in “She's a Hoosier, i.e., she's from Indiana.” E.g. means “for example,” as in “She roots for the local teams, e.g., the Pacers and the Colts.” Feel free to print this out and post it wherever you need it.
How do you remember I before E except after C?
The best way to remember the order of 'i' and 'e' in words is to use the mnemonic phrase that employs a rhyme scheme: I before e, except after c O...
How often is i before e except after c wrong?
There are words that don't follow the rule of 'except after c'. Some of those words are when the 'ei' combination makes a long 'i' or long 'e' soun...
What is the i before e rhyme?
The I before E rhyme is a mnemonic device that helps in remembering the basic rules of when to put 'i' before 'e' and when to flip them. The basic...
What are the exceptions to the I before E rule?
The exceptions are when certain words have a letter 'c' that comes before the 'i' and 'e'. This happens when the 'ei' makes a long sound, like in t...
What are some examples of words that don't follow the rule of except after C?
Some of those words are when the 'ei' combination makes a long 'i' or long 'e' sound. Some example words are ceiling, receipt, and deceive.
Is "ei" hard to pronounce?
either (this word is doubly hard because there are 2 excepted pronunciations of the 'ei'. It can be a long 'e' sound or a long 'i' sound.
Do words that end in O drop the E?
Some words that end in o do not drop the e when adding an ing. This man is tired from hoeing.
Do words have the 'e' and 'i' following the 'c'?
Some words, like ancient, have the 'e' and 'i' following the 'c', but don't flip. They follow the original rule.
What does EI mean after C?
ei after c in receive, ceiling, receipt. The rule is very well known; Edward Carney calls it "this supreme, and for many people solitary, spelling rule". The rule is sometimes taught without regard for the particular sound represented by the spelling, and sometimes taught as applying only to particular pronunciations.
What does EI represent?
There are many words where ei, not preceded by c, represents the vowel of FACE ( /eɪ/ ). There are a few where eir, not preceded by c, represents the vowel of SQUARE ( /ɛər/ ). These groups of words are exceptions only to the basic form of the rhyme; they are excluded from both of the common restricted forms.
What is the converse of the "except after c" part?
The converse of the "except after c" part is Carney's spelling-to-sound rule E.16: in the sequence ⟨cei⟩, the ⟨ei⟩ is pronounced /iː/. In Carney's test wordlist, all eight words with ⟨cei⟩ conform to this rule, which he thus describes as being a "marginal" rule with an "efficiency" of 100%. Rarer words not in the wordlist may not conform; for example, in haecceity, ceilidh, and enceinte the ei represents / iː.ɪ /, / eɪ /, and / æ / respectively.
What does "i before e except after c" mean?
A Dictionary of Modern English Usage discusses "i before e except after c". Henry Watson Fowler 's original 1926 edition called the rule "very useful", restricting it to words with the "long e" sound, stating further that "words in which that sound is not invariable, as either, neither, inveigle, do not come under it", ...
Which word breaks the "except after C" part of the rule?
Words that break both the "I before E" part and the "except after C" part of the rule include cheiromancies, cleidomancies, eigenfrequencies, obeisancies, oneiromancies .
Is "i before e" reliable?
On Language Log in 2006, Mark Liberman suggested that the alternative "i before e, no matter what" was more reliable than the basic rule. On the same blog in 2009, Geoff Pullum wrote, 'The rule is always taught, by anyone who knows what they are doing, as "i before e except after c when the sound is 'ee'."'.
Is "i" before "e" or "near"?
Mark Wainwright's FAQ posting interprets the rule as applying only to the FLEECE vowel, not the NEAR vowel; he regards it as useful if "a little common sense" is used for the exceptions. The FAQ includes a 1996 response to Wainwright by an American, listing variations on the rule and their exceptions, contending that even the restricted version has too many exceptions, and concluding "Instead of trying to defend the 'rule' or 'guideline', "'i' before 'e' except after 'c'", why don't we all just agree that it is dumb and useless, and be content just to laugh at it?"
Why don't English words follow the "I before E" rule?
One question we get asked a lot is why so many English words don't follow the "i before e" rule: i before e except after c. Well, the English language can be inconsistent. This is what makes English such a vibrant and expressive language, but it can also make it a nightmare to learn. We've been influenced by languages with such different spelling paradigms that we don't have tidy orthography.
Is "I" before "E" or "except after C"?
The "I before E except after C" rule is highly inconsistent in the English language and should not be considered a solid rule. Some exceptions include "weird," "forfeit," "albeit," "glacier," and "seize," all of which break this well known saying. One question we get asked a lot is why so many English words don't follow ...
Who put the I before E rule to the test?
A University of Warwick statistician named Nathan Cunningham recently decided to put the i-before-e rule to the test.
Who was the first to question the I-before-E rule?
Cunningham is far from the first to question the i-before-e orthodoxy. Back in 1932, an article in the Elementary School Journal noted the many exceptions to the rule and concluded that “if it were not for the fact that the jingle of the rule makes it easy to remember (although not necessarily easy to apply), the writer would recommend ...
Is "i" before "e" or "except after"?
With words like weird, weight and Rottweiler, it appears that “i before e, except after w” is a more accurate rule than the one we all know.
Is "cie" the same as "cei"?
In fact, the opposite is true: “cie” words outnumber “cei” ones by about three to one. The ratio of “ie” to “ei” is exactly the same for the after-c words as it is for all words in general.
Is "ie" a proper spelling?
The good news is that it does — in roughly three quarters of all words with either an “ie” or an “ei” pair, the proper spelling is “ie,” as the rule would have you believe. Think of words like “relief,” “grief,” “niece” or “believe.”. The thief was up to a piece of brief mischief in the field, according to the chief.
Overview
"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.
The rhyme is very well known; Edward Carney calls it "this supreme, and for many people solitary, spelling rule". However, the short form quoted above has many common exceptions; for example:
History of the spellings
The Middle English language evolved from Old English after the Norman conquest, adding many loanwords from Norman French, whose sounds and spellings changed and were changed by the older English customs. In French loanwords, the digraph <ie> generally represented the sound [eː], while <ei> represented [ɛː]; <ie> was later extended to signify [eː] in non-French words. In the Great Vowel Shift, sounds [eː] and [ɛː] were raised to [iː] and [eː] respectively. Later, the meet–meat mer…
History of the mnemonic
The mnemonic (in its short form) is found as early as 1866, as a footnote in Manual of English Spelling, edited by schools inspector James Stuart Laurie from the work of a Tavistock schoolmaster named Marshall. Michael Quinion surmises the rhyme was already established before this date. An 1834 manual states a similar rule in prose; others in 1855 and 1862 use different rhymes. Many textbooks from the 1870s on use the same rhyme as Laurie's book.
Modern views
Sandra Wilde in 1990 claimed the sounded-like-E version of the rule was one of only two sound–letter correspondence rules worth teaching in elementary schools. The rule was covered by five of nine software programs for spelling education studied by Barbara Mullock in 2012.
Edward Carney's 1994 Survey of English Spelling describes the ["long-e" version of the] rule as "peculiar":
Exceptions
The following sections list exceptions to the basic form; many are not exceptions to the augmented forms.
Words that break both the "I before E" part and the "except after C" part of the rule include cheiromancies, cleidomancies, eigenfrequencies, obeisancies and oneiromancies.
Some large groups of words have cie in the spelling. Few common words have the cei spelling h…
Popular culture
The rhyme is mentioned in several films and TV episodes about spelling bees, including A Boy Named Charlie Brown, The Simpsons episode "I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can", The Pen Is Mightier Than the Pencil episode of The Odd Couple, and an episode of Arthur; and also in the musical The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, when Huckleberry Finn is being taught how to read. The rhyme was used as a climactic plot device in the 1990 TaleSpin episode "Vowel Play" when Kit corrects Balo…