"i" before "e" except after "c"

[Joel S. Berson]

At 6/24/2009 12:41 AM, Pauline Bryant wrote:
>The rule works pretty well if you were taught the whole rule:
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>i before e
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>except after c
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>when the sound is ee. .....(That sound is [i] or ~ee.)
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>It's the last line that makes the rule work.
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>We were told that the only exception to the rule is 'seize', though
>'protein' and 'caffeine' are other exceptions, and there may be a few more.

Neither leisured foreigner seized the weird heights.

I learned the "rule" as:

i before e
except after c
or when pronounced like A
as in neighbor and weigh

(plus of course the rubric "Neither" etc.)

Joel

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