Is I before E except after C or when sounded as A as in neighbor & weigh?

Question

science
weird
height
codeine

Answer 1

and in "leisure" and "seizure", the ie/ei is followed by a phonetic "z"

In "height" the ie/ei is sounded like a long "i"

In "science", the ie/ei is not pronounced as a single vowel sound, it has two syllables, "sci" and "ence" which splits the ie/ei into a long "i" and a short "e"

weird and codeine (caffeine too) are true exceptions

Answer 2

There is a name which will remind you when to use e or i first. Just remember ALICE.

I also found this useful

Spelling: IE/EI

Brought to you by the Purdue University Online Writing Lab

Rule

Write I before E
Except after C
Or when it sounds like an A
As in "neighbor" and "weigh"



i before e: relief, believe, niece, chief, sieve, frieze, field, yield

e before i: receive, deceive, ceiling, conceit, vein, sleigh, freight, eight

However, there are also exceptions and it's so long an explanation so just go to http://alt-usage-english.org/I_before_E.html

Here are some examples for the exceptions
beige, cleidoic, codeine, conscience, deify, deity, deign,
dreidel, eider, eight, either, feign, feint, feisty,

Glad to be of help.

Answer 3

This is not a true "rule". It is simply an attempt to help people remember how to spell many words (a "mnemonic device"). It has a number of different forms, though there are "exceptions" to ANY form of it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_before_e_except_after_c

Answer 4

no. in height, i is after e and still pronounced as A.