why r kids taught at school the saying I before e except after c?

Question

This sometimes doesn't work! can u name words it dosen't work in?

Answer 1

Weigh is one.
A longer version of this rhyme has a line
"..or sounded as A, as in neighbour or weigh"

Answer 2

Well the whole thing is "I before E except after C, or in the following list of exceptions:"

[There follows a list of about 600 words which are exceptions].

Love Jack

Answer 3

It's an easy way for children to remember the order of the "e" and "i" in common words they will use.

A short list of exceptions:

albeit ancient atheism beige being caffeine casein cleidoic codeine conscience counterfeit deficient (deficiencies) deify deity deign deil disseize dreidel efficient eider eight either feign feint feisty financier foreign forfeit freight geisha glacier gleization gneiss greige greisen heifer heigh-ho height heinous heir heist inveigle kaleidoscope keister leisure leitmotiv monteith neigh neighbor neither obeisance omniscient onomatopoeia peignoir phenolphthalein phthalein prescient proficient protein reign reimburse rein reinforce reinstate reveille Rotweiller science seeing seiche seidel seine seismic seize seizin sheik sheila society sovereign specie species sufficient surfeit surveillance teiid their veil vein weight weir weird

Now while some of these words are more common, I would surely be suprised if my nine year old (having learned that little rhyme in the second grade) came home using such words as "cleidoic" and "prescient" to describe herself or her day. =o)

Answer 4

It was my understanding that this worked only in words that contained the three letters, i, e and c. for example piece contains all three and the i and e come before the c so i goes first. Receive contains all three and the i, e combo come after the c so e comes before i.

However there are exceptions eg: Science

Answer 5

This is no longer taught in schools and hasn't been for about 20 odd years. It's a good rule of thumb, but as you say not always true.
Who taught you that it was acceptable to use r when you mean are and u when you mean you?

Answer 6

It has to do with spelling words like believe (i before e) and receive (except after c). English spelling has nothing to do with logic, and although this rule is true most of the time, there can be exceptions, e.g. foreign

Answer 7

It generally works -- often enough to teach it as a rule. Here are some examples of it not working: height, weight, sleight, freight, sleigh, weigh... as you see, they form a pattern. Let me revise the rule:
"i" before "e" except after "c" but you must beware when "gh" is there!

Answer 8

albeit ancient atheism beige being caffeine casein cleidoic codeine conscience counterfeit deficient (deficiencies) deify deity deign deil disseize dreidel efficient eider eight either feign feint feisty financier foreign forfeit freight geisha glacier gleization gneiss greige greisen heifer heigh-ho height heinous heir heist inveigle kaleidoscope keister leisure leitmotiv monteith neigh neighbor neither obeisance omniscient onomatopoeia peignoir phenolphthalein phthalein prescient proficient protein reign reimburse rein reinforce reinstate reveille Rotweiller science seeing seiche seidel seine seismic seize seizin sheik sheila society sovereign specie species sufficient surfeit surveillance teiid their veil vein weight weir weird

i before e
except after c
or when sounding like a
as in neighbor and weigh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_before_e

Answer 9

The rhyme I learned was I before E except after C and in words like Stein, and it hasn't failed me yet! LOL

Answer 10

Most of the time it works. You have to learn the exceptions.

English is such a rich and deep language. Keeps all those foreign johnnies on their toes. Ooops - there's one.

Answer 11

I've been struggling to get this through to my 8 year old. If I correct her 'i' 'e' spelling she tells me I must be wrong because her teacher says i before e. It seems such an old fashioned saying, I can't understand why they do it.