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- From: TSOS@uni-duesseldorf.de (Detlef Lannert)
- Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
- Subject: Re: I before E rule
- Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 07:40:20 GMT
- Organization: Universitaetsrechenzentrum, Heinrich-Heine-Universitaet, Duesseldorf
- Lines: 28
- Message-ID: <TSOS.149.721294820@uni-duesseldorf.de>
- References: <1992Nov3.201605.14865@news.weeg.uiowa.edu> <1992Nov6.140630.1@cc.newcastle.edu.au>
- NNTP-Posting-Host: lannert.rz.uni-duesseldorf.de
-
- In article <1992Nov6.140630.1@cc.newcastle.edu.au> ccjal@cc.newcastle.edu.au (John A Lambert) writes:
-
- >In article <1992Nov3.201605.14865@news.weeg.uiowa.edu>, jwagner@news.weeg.uiowa.edu (Joseph F. Wagner) writes:
- >> Everyone remebers the rule: "I before E except after C and in the case of A
- >> like in weigh and neighbor."
- >>
- >> Well, there is a third part to this little rhyme that talks about exceptions
- >> like leisure. If anyone can mail me the entire rule, I will be eternally
- >> indebted to you. Please mail me as I don't read this group and, as always,
- >> thanks in advance.
- >>
- >>
- >> Joe
- >--
- >The rule as I learned it 55 or so years ago was `I before E when the sound is
- >ee.'
- >
- >That handles neighbor and weigh; the way we pronounce leisure here (lezha) it
- >also handles that case.
-
- I still don't see how this rule covers cases like 'seize': The sound is
- 'ee' (in my book), and the first letter is definitely not a 'c'.
- (With words like 'siege' being around, I doubt that there is an easy way
- to mend the rule.)
- --
- Detlef Lannert DC3EK E-Mail: tsos@rz.uni-duesseldorf.de
- "Gedanken sind nicht stets parat,
- man schreibt auch, wenn man keine hat." Wilhelm Busch
-