I Before E Except After C, What A Weird Society Quiz

Answer: The letters "i" and "e" are in different syllables, so the combination doesn't have to follow the rule.

This rule applies to "i" and "e" only when they appear in the same syllable. Thus, "niece" follows the rule because the "i" is before the "e" and it is a one-syllable word. "Receive" follows the rule because the "e" and "i" are in a single syllable which begins with a "c." If only the rule were this simple to apply all the time...

Answer: True

There have been many refinements to the "i" before "e" rule to make it work in more situations. No matter how you slice and dice it, however, there is no way to explain how words like "weird" (which is pronounced in American English as a single syllable with a long "e" sound followed by the "r" sound) are written "ei" and words like "pierce" (which is pronounced the same as "weird") do follow the rule. I guess it is more of a guideline or a suggestion than a hard-and-fast rule!

Answer: "Sleigh," "eight" and "weigh" fulfill the three characteristics listed here.

All three characteristics are true of these words. The fact that the "ei" combination is sounded as a long "a" ("veil" and "beige" are other examples) and the fact that they are followed by a silent "g" ("neigh," "reign" and "foreign" are other examples) is another important clue to determining the order of the letters.

There are words with origins in other languages that don't follow the rule, just as there are words borrowed from other languages that do follow the rule. It seems the more we look at our rule, the more sub-conditions there are.

Answer: policies

The spelling of the word "policies" is easy to understand when you look at the singular form of the word: "policy". Any word where a "y" changes to "i" and then a suffix is added will end in "cie-", for example "fancy-->fancies;" "necromancy-->necromancier," etc.

A further wrinkle in the rule is that when a word is spelled one way, all of the derivative forms of that word are also spelled the same way... Curiouser and curiouser.

Answer: True

The show was called "QI," which stands for "Quite Interesting." This may have been one of the more boring facts shared on the usually very interesting show, which relied on the comedic talents of those appearing to entertain and educate the audience and viewers.

Answer: The "ie" combination is most often sounded as a long "e".

When you consider that the combination in "niece," "piece," or "believe," is pronounced as a long "e," then the rule becomes a bit more regular. Many of the words falling into the "except after 'c'" part of the rule are also sounded as "e," such as "ceiling," "receive," "conceive," etc.

Answer: caffeine

Many chemical words are exceptions to the rule under consideration in this quiz, especially those ending in "-ein" or "-eine" (like "caffeine," "codeine," "protein," etc.) Sometimes the pronunciation of a word changes over time, and in many of the chemical words, "-ein(e)" was originally pronounced with a long "i" sound.

Answer: True

Names like "Keith," "Neil," and "Sheila," do not follow the expected spelling, nor do proper names taken from other languages, such as "Rotweiller."

Answer: leisure

Other words with this spelling that are sounded as the long "i" are: "either" (which can also be pronounced with a long "e" in some dialects), "einsteinium," "feisty," "height," "seismic," and "zeitgeist." Note that of the latter examples, many are derived from foreign words.

"Leisure" does not follow this rule, and appears to be another exception similar to "weird". Such words need to be memorized and learned.

Answer: True

Many linguistic authorities discard the rule as having too many exceptions to be worth learning, at least for young readers or for non-native speakers of English. They suggest that by reading a wide variety of texts with many different words, familiarity with the words themselves will aid spelling more than the memorization of a rule that has so many exceptions.