That old spelling mantra, which generations of British schoolchildren have learnt for decades, "i before e, except after c," is under threat.
Under new British government guidance teachers have been told not to pass on the rule to students, because there are too many exceptions.
A document called "Support For Spelling" is being sent to thousands of primary schools, and it says the rule "is not worth teaching" because it doesn't account for words like 'sufficient,' 'veil' and 'their.'
Jack Bovill of the Spelling Society, which advocates simplified spelling, said he agreed with the decision, even though it is one of the few language rules that people remember.
Luckily the government doesn't run my website, so I'll carry on regardless.
"I before E except after c in words with "ee" sounds in them" would be useful if one then goes on to teach that it only explains the spelling of about 15 words and that there are a huge number of exceptions and that there is no rule to predict how to spell those. We do not have a rule to accurately predict the spellings of words like proceed, receipt, recede, bikini, refugee, spaghetti, relay, police, guillotine, debris, quay, people, foetus, bead - all of which have a "ee" sound in them. Then we have neighbour, weird, science and Einstein, bread that don't have a "ee" sound. As we don't have rules we have to learn these words individually including when they conform and when they don't conform to this ditty.
I think the point here is that having a rule disorderly spelling system is intimately connected to the high levels of illiteracy in the English speaking world (7 million Brits & 40 million in the USA functionally illiterate) and all the social ills that follow.
You'll have the government after you. 😉
Great article! Those English are weird, however. Who spells theater as theatre? Come on. They should spell American. I have a nice list of the spelling rules with examples that work most all of the time and MP3s of spelling rule songs and raps to check out at Spelling Rules Songs and Raps.