Okay, we all know about i before e except after c and when pronounced a as in neighbor and weigh but what?

Question

about weird? Is there a rule that covers that e before i?

Answer 1

"I before e, except after c" is a mnemonic used to help 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, e.g.:

ie after c: science, sufficient, agencies, financier, efficient
ei not after c: their, foreign, being, neither, weird, vein, seize

An augmented American version is:

i before e
except after c
or when sounding like a
as in neighbor and weigh
(Here a is [eɪ].) This excludes many of the exceptions but still fails to correctly handle many others. A further mnemonic for some of these others is: Neither financier seized either species of weird leisure.

Answer 2

The exceptions to that rule are: weird, seize, counterfeit and caffeine.
.

Answer 3

I don't know about a rule, but I know that I was taught there were exceptions.

Answer 4

the english language is so inconsistent when it comes to grammer, the rules pretty much don't make sense.