examples from the rule are receive, believe, perceive, deceive.
Exceptions include deign, concieve, reign,feign, rein.........
Strange rule indeed!
2007-03-06 19:29:31 · 13 answers · asked by bala k 2 in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
Because English is kind of a mongrel language, cobbled together from various other, older tongues. Remember, the ancient speakers of English were rather primitive and non-literate cultures compared to the Greeks, Romans, Chinese and Arabic civilizations until quite late in history so they borrowed much of their spellings and the written language evolved in the absence of a large body of organized education or government -- there were few, if any, "rules."
2007-03-07 08:54:33 · answer #1 · answered by c_kayak_fun 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I don't know why the words ending in "-eive" are exceptions, except, perhaps they all have the same origins. The rule continues with the following phrase however "... or sounding like ay as in neighbor and weigh." So that explains the rest.
2007-03-14 00:48:49 · answer #2 · answered by Heidi L 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yeah, I always thought that was a weird one. But then again, there are exceptions in just about every language. I don't think they're 'permitted', they just happen.
I've been taking Japanese for years. When a teacher is explaining something new, they always have to tell us when it is and not appropriate to use certain words, verbs, sentence structures, particles, and etc. That's just how the world works.
2007-03-06 20:18:18 · answer #3 · answered by jachei 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
And why do we pronounce bough differently from cough? I could go on forever with the anomalies of the English language. It just is that way. A little like the irregular verbs in French. You just have to learn it all.
2007-03-07 00:41:02 · answer #4 · answered by catfish 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
We drive on the Parkway yet park in the Driveway. Why is the word abbreviated rather long? The english language is a strange one. However, jsut about every language has its own little oddities.
2007-03-06 19:38:52 · answer #5 · answered by vito b 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The saying for the rule is completed by, "...or when sounded like 'A' as in 'neighbor' and 'weigh'."
The rest are exceptions to the rule-and they are numerous and must be memorized.
2007-03-10 18:08:00 · answer #6 · answered by omnisource 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It has been said that the English language is the hardest to learn. It's my first (and only) language, and 23 years later, I still trip over my words.
2007-03-06 19:36:33 · answer #7 · answered by startthisover 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
That's why English is the hardest answer to learn. So man exceptions to the rule. Why don't we so spell knife "nife"? Why don't spell ehough "enuff"? It's crazy!
2007-03-14 11:26:22 · answer #8 · answered by LadyLynn 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the rest of the rule is ..."or when sounding like "a" as in neighbor or weigh."
2007-03-14 09:48:23 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
foreign languages adopted words .... english has the most other languages in it
2007-03-06 19:32:51 · answer #10 · answered by q6656303 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋