I before E except after C

"I before e, except after c" is a mnemonic device used to help many students remember how to spell certain words in the English language. It means that, in words where "i" and "e" fall together, the order is "ie", except directly following "c", when it is "ei". For example:
*"ie" in words like "siege", "friend"
*"ei" in words like "ceiling", "receive"

However, in its short form the rule has many common exceptions, such as "species", "science", "sufficient" (where "ie" follows "c") or "seize", "weird", "sovereignty", "vein", "feisty", "kaleidoscope" and "neighbor" (where "ei" is not preceded by "c"). More exceptions are listed below. Various augmentations to the rhyme have been proposed to handle these exceptions.

American version

An augmented American version is::"i" before "e":except after "c":or when sounding like "a":as in neighbor or weigh

There is also a more sarcastic version, which points out a couple of exceptions:

:"i" before "e":except after "c":but we live in a weird society

British version

A British version is::when the sound is "ee":it's "i" before "e":except after "c"(Here "ee" is IPA| [iː] .) This excludes most exceptions, as well as excluding some words (e.g. "friend") which are correctly handled by the American version. The most frequent everyday failures of the British form of the rule are "seize", "caffeine", "protein" (here "-ein(e)" was originally pronounced IPA| [iː.ɪn] ) and, for those who pronounce the initial vowel sound IPA| [iː] , "either" and "neither". "Weird" and "weir" are often listed as exceptions, though the pronunciation of "-eir" in Received Pronunciation is IPA| [ɪə(ɹ)] rather than IPA| [iː(ɹ)] . Inflections of words ending "-cy" ("fancied", "policies" etc.) are exceptions for those with happY tensing accents, who pronounce the "-cies/-cied" endings IPA| [siz] / [sid] /rather than IPA| [sɪz] / [sɪd] .

Few common words have the "cei" spelling handled by the rule: verbs ending "-ceive" and their derivatives ("perceive", "deceit", "transceiver", "receipts", etc), and "ceiling". Many words spelled with "ei" are pronounced IPA| [iː] in America but not Britain (e.g. "sheikh", "leisure", "either" have IPA| [eɪ] , IPA| [ɛ] , IPA| [aɪ] respectively). In these cases, the British pronunciation is a corollary of the British rule (i.e. when spelt "ei", the pronunciation cannot be IPA| [iː] ).

Exceptions

This section lists exceptions to the basic form; many will not be exceptions to the augmented forms. The word "oneiromancies" (studies into the meaning of dreams) breaks the rule twice, in both ways. The words "deficiencies", "efficiencies", "sufficiencies", "zeitgeist" and "einsteinium" break the rule twice in the same way.

Another mnemonic device that takes the form of a non-rhyming sentence has been used to help students remember a list of common exceptions to the rule: "Let "neither" "financier" "inveigle" the "sheikh" into "seizing" "either" "species" of "weird" "leisure"." This sentence contains both "ie after c" exceptions and "e before i" exceptions.

cie

Some groups of words have "cie":
*Inflections of words ending "-cy" ("fancied", "policies", etc.)
*"science" and related words ("conscience", "prescient", etc.)
*Other words ending "-cient" "-ciency" ("ancient", "efficiency", etc.)
*Suffixes "-ier" or "-iety" after a root ending in "-c" ("financier", "glacier", "society", etc.)

ei not preceded by c

Some groups of words have "ei":
*Chemical names ending in "-ein" or "-eine" ("caffeine, casein, codeine, phenolphthalein, phthalein, protein," etc.)
*Many proper names ("Keira, Breidi, Keith, Leith, Neilla, Sheila," etc.)
*Scottish English words ("deil, deid, weill," etc.)
*Prefixes "de-" or "re-" before words starting with "i" ("deindustrialize, reignite," etc.)
*Inflection "-ing" after verbs those ending in "e" which do not drop the "e" ("being, seeing, swingeing," etc.)

Miscellaneous others: in the following lists, words are grouped by the sound corresponding to "ei" in the spelling. An asterisk* after a word indicates the pronunciation implied is one of several found. Most derived forms are omitted; for example, as well as "seize", there exists "disseize" and "seizure".;IPA| [eɪ] : these exceptions are excluded by the American version: "beige, cleidoic, deign, dreidel, eight, feign, feint, freight, forfeit, geisha, gleization, gneiss, greige, greisen, heigh-ho*, heinous*, inveigle*, neigh, neighbo(u)r, obeisance*, peignoir*, reign, rein, seiche, seidel, seine, sheikh*, sleigh, surveillance, veil, vein, weigh" ;"eir" as IPA| [ɛɹ] (rhotic) or IPA| [ɛə(ɹ)] (non-rhotic) : these exceptions are excluded by the American version: "heir, their";IPA| [i] : these exceptions are the only ones that slip through the strictest interpretation of the British version: "either*, heinous*, inveigle*, keister, leisure*, monteith, neither*, obeisance*, seize, seizin, sheikh*, specie, teiid";IPA| [i] or IPA| [ɪ] , depending on happy tensing : these exceptions may slip through the British version: "species";"eir" as IPA| [ɪɹ] (rhotic) or IPA| [ɪə(ɹ)] (non-rhotic): these exceptions may slip through the British version: "weir, weird";IPA| [aɪ] : "eider, either*, Einstein, einsteinium, feisty, Frankenstein, heigh-ho*, height, heist, kaleidoscope, leitmotiv, neither*, Rotweiller, seismic, stein, zeitgeist";IPA| [ɪ] : "counterfeit, forfeit, surfeit";IPA| [ɪ] or IPA| [ə] , depending on weak vowel merger: "foreign, reveille*, sovereign" ;IPA| [ɛ] : "heifer, leisure*, peignoir*" ;IPA| [æ] : "reveille*";"e" and "i" in separate segments: "albeit, atheism, deify, deity, onomatopoeia"

Cultural references

"I Before E Except After C" was a song Charlie Brown and Linus sing, with Snoopy playing a jaw harp, to prepare Charlie for his school's spelling bee in "A Boy Named Charlie Brown". The song covered several other spelling rules, e.g., words ending in -cede, -ceed and -sede.

The "I before E" rule was debated in a Canadian TV commercial for the Hyundai Santa Fe.

Brian Regan mentions the rule in his observational humor. When asked what the "I before E rule" is, he jokingly responds "I before E...always." His teacher then corrects him with a rule that makes about as much sense as the real rule: "I before e except after c, or when sounding like ay as in neighbor or weigh, and on weekends, and holidays, and all throughout May, and you'll always be wrong, no matter what you say!" Regan responds with a simple, "Oh. That's a hard rule."

In "The Simpsons" episode "I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can", Marge and Lisa discuss the rule::Marge: Remember: "I before E except after C." :Lisa: Except as an A as in "neighbor" and "weigh". :Marge: What about "Jim "Nabors" is "way" cool?" :Lisa: When will that ever come up?:Marge: It's on my apron!

In the "TaleSpin" episode "Vowel Play", Baloo and Kit were skywriting the word "weight" but misspelled it because Kit used the rhyme "I before E except after C". Afterwards, Kit realized his mistake when he remembered the rest of the rhyme, "...and when sounding like A as in 'neighbor' or 'weigh'".

In a 2007 broadcast of "Late Show with David Letterman", Jim Carrey made an impression of David Caruso as an English teacher, referencing the rule.

"I Before E (Except After C): Old-School Ways To Remember Stuff" was the title of a bestselling book by Judy Parkinson, published by Michael O'Mara Books in August 2007. It was the surprise hit of Christmas 2007 in the UK book trade and was featured on BBC Radio 4 Today's Programme, in the "Daily Telegraph" and the "Daily Mail" and in questions on the BBC's "University Challenge" programme. The book included mnemonics and old fashioned rules for remembering everything from the planets of the solar system to the colours of the rainbow.

ee also

* Ie (digraph)
* Ei (digraph)

External links

* [http://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxibefor.html alt.english.usage: A British defence of the mnemonic] from the newsgroup's FAQ
* [http://alt-usage-english.org/I_before_E.html alt.english.usage: An American critique of the mnemonic]
* [http://www.kwiznet.com/p/takeQuiz.php?ChapterID=10017&CurriculumID=26 "i before e" Spelling Rule, Examples, & Quiz]
* [http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003785.html Some analysis of usage] on the language log
* [http://www.jimloy.com/language/ibeforee.htm Rule, and a list of exceptions, and an amended rule]
* [http://jef.raskincenter.org/published/i_before_e.html "I Before E, if Taken with Caffeine"] , poem by Jef Raskin
* [http://yootles.com/poeim.html "I before E when it wants to be"] , poem by Daniel Reeves