Well, not always. You see, some rules simply don’t apply all the time. And that’s one of the reasons English can be so difficult to master.
Take the “i” before “e” except after “c” rule. I know many people who rely on it to self-check their spelling, but this could be a mistake — here’s a list of words where that rule doesn’t apply:
- Beige
- Cleidoic
- Codeine
- Conscience
- Deify
- Deity
- Deign
- Eight
- Either
- Feign
- Fein
- Feisty
- Foreign
- Forfeit
- Freight
- 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
- Veil
- Vein
- Weight
- Weir
- Weird
Know some other “i” before “e” except after “c” rule-breaking words? Send us a comment and share!
