English Spelling Rules: "I before E"

• "I before E except after C" is a mnemonic to help remember English spelling rules.
• It advises that when 'i' and 'e' appear together, 'i' comes before 'e', unless they follow the letter 'c'.

Common examples that follow the I before E rule:

• believe
• chief
• field
• grief
• niece
• pierce

Common examples that follow the exception:

• deceive
• perceive
• receive
• ceiling

Limitations of the rule:

• The rule has many exceptions, making it unreliable.
• It does not apply when the 'ie' combination has an /aɪ/ sound as in 'neighbor' and 'weigh'.
• It is also not applicable in words where 'ie' is not a digraph and each vowel is pronounced separately, such as 'diet' or 'science'.
• Many words do not follow the rule at all such as caffeine, protein, and stein

Silent E in English Endings

• Silent E at the end of words often changes the sound of the vowel that precedes it.
• It typically makes the vowel say its "long" sound (i.e., its name).

Examples of silent E changing vowel sounds:

• "hat" becomes "hate"
• "pet" becomes "Pete"
• "kit" becomes "kite"
• "not" becomes "note"
• "tub" becomes "tube"

Functions of Silent E:

• Signals a long vowel sound
• Prevents words from ending in 'v' or 'u' (e.g., "have," "blue")
• Softens 'c' and 'g' to /s/ and /dʒ/ respectively (e.g., "face," "cage")
• Distinguishes words that would otherwise be homographs (e.g., "here" vs. "hear")

Y Endings in English

• The letter 'y' can function as both a consonant and a vowel in English.
• As a consonant, 'y' appears at the beginning of a word or syllable and makes a /j/ sound, as in "yes" or "beyond".
• As a vowel, 'y' typically appears at the end of a word or syllable and makes either an /i/ or /aɪ/ sound.

'Y' as a Vowel:

• When 'y' acts as a vowel, its pronunciation depends on its position in the word and the surrounding letters.
• At the end of a word with multiple syllables, 'y' usually sounds like /i/, as in "happy" or "city".
• At the end of a one-syllable word, 'y' often sounds like /aɪ/, as in "my" or "try".

Pluralizing words ending in 'y':

• When forming plurals, if a word ends in consonant + 'y', change the 'y' to 'i' and add 'es' (e.g., "baby" becomes "babies").
• If a word ends in vowel + 'y', simply add 's' (e.g., "boy" becomes "boys").

Adding suffixes to words ending in 'y':

• When adding a suffix to a word ending in consonant + 'y', the 'y' usually changes to 'i' unless the suffix begins with 'i' (e.g., "happy" + "ness" becomes "happiness," but "try" + "ing" becomes "trying").
• When adding a suffix to a word ending in vowel + 'y', the 'y' usually stays the same (e.g., "enjoy" + "able" becomes "enjoyable").

Double Consonants in English

• Doubling consonants often occurs when adding suffixes to words.
• The general rule is to double the final consonant if the word:
  • Has one syllable or ends in a stressed syllable
  • Has one vowel in that stress syllable
  • The suffix starts with a vowel

Examples where the final consonant is doubled:

• "run" + "ing" becomes "running"
• "swim" + "er" becomes "swimmer"
• "begin" + "ing" becomes "beginning" (stress on the second syllable)

Exceptions to the Doubling Rule:

• If the stress is not on the final syllable, the consonant is usually not doubled (e.g., "visit" + "ing" becomes "visiting").
• Some consonants, are not usually doubled (such as 'v', 'w', 'x', and 'y').
• In British English, the final 'l' is often doubled even when the stress is not on the final syllable (e.g., "travel" + "ed" becomes "travelled").