A peculiar rumination of a bored mind |
Thinking yesterday of the old rule "I before E except after C." That is definitely true. But I was trying to think how many instances there are in the english language of an "EI" coming after "C". Not that many it seems. I came up with 7: receive, conceive, perceive, deceive, receipt, deceit, and conceit. Not that many when you think about it. But enough to keep me occasionally reciting that old rule from childhood.
Might be more exceptions to the rule:
efficiency scientific sufficient conscience deficiency proficient omniscient And that's not even accounting for plurals that end in "cies". There are only eight root words in the entire English language spelled C-E-I, vs. eighteen spelled C-I-E. More than twice as many words are spelled with C-I-E and with C-E-I.
I was taught "I before E except after C unless the sound is e"
Regardless of the truth of the rule, as a child (and even now) I find it difficult to cast this into any sort of useful logic. How many ten-year-olds can figger this? i_before_e = NOT (c_is_preceding_letter) OR (c_is_preceding_letter AND sound_is_ee) e_before_i = NOT i_before_e Synes rule looks better "I before E except after C “Or When Sounded Like A, As In Vein Or Weigh.” E-I can copy the sound of long A, as in vein or weigh, but I-E can’t." So i_before_e = NOT (c_is_preceding_letter) OR (sounded_like_an_a) Locally my a's have a bit of a y quality to them effishyent,scyennce and so forth but it looks much better than the rule I was taught and never understood.; |
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