Did you ever learn the “i before e” rule? I did, and I believe that it helped me with words such as the believe that I just wrote a few words back. I cannot conceive (there’s another one) of not teaching kids the rule and encouraging them to use it. The British government, however, can.
I teach the rule in the longer form:
I before E, except after C
Or when sounded as “ay,” as in neighbor or weigh.
The rule in that form covers almost every word in the English language. A few exceptions are either, neither, weird, foreign, sovereign, seize, counterfeit, and protein.
The one part of the rule that is pretty much inviolable, as far as I can tell is that ei is the correct combination to use for the “ee” sound after the letter c, as in deceive, receive, conceive, perceive, and ceiling, along with all their various forms and with words formed from them (receipt, imperceivable, deceitfulness, etc.)
I have found it very helpful for remembering tricky words such as friend and believe.
What do you think? Is it a useful rule?
This discussion brings to mind the general difficulties in English spelling. Do you think that our orthography should be reformed? Do you think spelling is even important?
I wish that our spelling system were simpler, but nobody has the authority to make it happen. For Americans at least, a new spelling system would probably end up like the metric system. It would also have some disadvantages.
- Most of the books of the last 200 years would appear very odd until they were all updated.
- Changing spelling patterns would obscure the etymology of words. For example, spelling police as “polees” would mask the fact that it was borrowed from French and spelling photograph as “fotograf” woudl hide the fact that it is derived from Greek.
- Adults would have a difficult time adjusting to a new system, unless it were phased in very gradually, which means that you would have two systems operating at once, and that could lead to confusion and frustration.
- English has many homophones, such as weight and wait, bare and bear, and cot and caught. Although context almost always reveals the meaning, it is handy to look at the written word and know instantly what it refers to. Picture this: I could not wate to tell my wife that my wate had gone down. or I got up from my cot and cot the bare, but I could not bare to kill him. Yuck!
All in all, I would like to see a simpler spelling system for English, but I would like it to evolve gradually and naturally. A perusal of books from the 15th to the 21st Centuries shows that it has already been happening and that it continues to happen. As I always say, people at large usually do better work than committees.
4 responses so far ↓
languagelover // June 29, 2009 at 8:43 am |
I suspect that spelling may change even quicker than it has over the last few hundred years because of technology advances like email and texting. For example, “thru” is becoming more accepted as a spelling for “through”.
I agree that people would do a better job of changing spellings than committees or government.
As far as your point goes, yes, I teach the rule and will continue to do so because it applies often enough to be helpful.
Scott Erb // June 29, 2009 at 10:09 am |
I heard the rule, but never actually learned it. I was a horrible speller until college. I learned to spell by writing . We had an interesting debate about grammar here. I am convinced that within a few decades the proper way to indicate first person plural in a sentence where “he or she” or just “he” is now used will be the third person plural, “they.” It’s done in spoken English all the time. My “opponent” in the debate was a grammar purist who cringed at that change. I do think things are going to change more quickly due to technology and a new generation coming of age.
Pauline // June 29, 2009 at 1:34 pm |
I agree, change would be good but it has to come from the way people actually use words, not the way they’re told to use them. Because that’s the way languages actually do change, no matter what either the purists or the reformers would like.
I learned the “i before e rule” and use it, and about the only word I consistently have trouble with is “weird.” Because it looks weird no matter which way I spell it.
Leigh Ann // July 3, 2009 at 12:20 pm |
Seeing as how my name is Leigh, like in Raleigh, NC, I find no use for this rule really. I have been called “Lay” often due to it & that drives me nuts. I mean com eon, who would name their little girl Lay?!