why do children learn "i" before"e" except after "c" when there are so many exceptions?

Question

I am tutoring my nephew in spelling & he came up with a very creative spelling for being - "bieing" When I asked him why he said I before E except after C! How do I help him identify the exceptions to this rule? (He also spelt weird as wierd)

Answer 1

There are numerous exceptions to the "i before e except after c" rule -

weigh, rottweiler, deity, science, neighbor, piece, vacancies, frequencies, beige, cleidoic, codeine, conscience, deify, deity, deign, dreidel, eider, eight, either, feign, feint, feisty,
foreign, forfeit, freight, gleization, gneiss, greige,
greisen, heifer, heigh-ho, height, heinous, heir, heist,
leitmotiv, neigh, neighbor, neither, peignoir, prescient,
rein, science, seiche, seidel, seine, seismic, seize, sheik,
society, sovereign, surfeit, teiid, veil, vein, weight,
weir, weird, caffeine, casein, codeine, deil (Scots, devil), either, geisha, inveigle, keister (slang, buttocks), keister, leisure, monteith, neither, obeisance, phenolphthalein, phthalein, protein, seize, seizin, sheik, sheila (Australian slang for "girl", not capitalized), specie, species, teiid.

Then consider this poem:

When the English tongue we speak
Why is break not rhymed with freak?
Will you tell me why it’s true
We say sew, but likewise few?
And the maker of a verse,
Cannot rhyme his horse with worse?
Beard is not the same as heard,
Cord is different from word,
Cow is cow, but low is low,
Shoe is never rhymed with foe.
Think of hose and dose and lose,
And think of goose and yet of choose,
Think of comb and tomb and bomb,
Doll and roll and home and some.
And since pay is rhymed with say,
Why not paid with said I pray?
Think of blood and food and good;
Mould is not pronounced like could.
Wherefore done, but gone and lone -
Is there any reason known?
To sum up all, it seems to me
Sounds and letters don’t agree.

English is a tough language. One thing we can be sure of is that there will be many exceptions to most rules.

Answer 2

When you give and reCeive instructions in English, you must be aware that there are many confusing rules, which is weird.
Weird is correctly spelled.
--The solution is to learn the exceptions -- and learn when to use them.

By the way, there is no 'c' in 'being' no matter which way he thinks it is spelled, so he was applying a rule that had no application in that instance.

Answer 3

It only applies when the sound is an extended E their isn't pronounced as an extended it is an lower e sound

Pronounciation is the problem with exceptions we pronounce them different like cupboard used sound out like 2 words cup board for example or breakfast is in fact two words break (as in to sever) fast (to stop doing an action)

Answer 4

There are not so many excpetions. The saying is I before E except after C or as in weigh or neighbor.

Answer 5

Becuz there are EXCEPTIONS. that however is the rule. aahhh the english language is confusing. Good luck with the tutoring :-)

Answer 6

You're going to get fired today, anyway. I have a feeling you're not very sneaky... and your boss banned you from this place. I think you should try extra hard not to laugh at fart jokes. I know it's tough... but think of your drug habit.

Answer 7

Here are a couple of websites that explain the exceptions to the exception.

http://www.jimloy.com/language/ibeforee.htm

http://alt-usage-english.org/I_before_E.html

http://www.usingenglish.com/weblog/archives/000021.html

Answer 8

Or when sounds like an A
such as neighbor and weigh

Answer 9

very few exceptions when you consider all words ( don't you love the new Yahoo you get one answer and two thumbs already - they patrol and thumb but are too lazy to answer )

Answer 10

I don't know, it just confuses me. English is the hardest language to learn. It must be hard on kids.