Editing for Correct Spelling

Lecture 1: Some Global Patterns

The first thing that we should remember before looking at these rules is that rules almost always have exceptions. As a result, you should keep both the rules and the exceptions in mind when you edit your writing.

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I Before E Except After C

Let's look at another spelling-related poem, which school children around the United States memorize as they learn to spell:

I before E
Except after C
Or when sounding like "ay"
As in neighbor and weigh

American English spelling rules must be pretty crazy to inspire all this poetry. Let's think about what this poem is telling us. Two common combinations of letters in English spelling are -ie- and -ei-, but when do you use which? According to the poem, it's easy:

• I before E: This is the basic rule, and it applies in words like relief, believe, niece and chief.
   

• Except after C: Here's the first exception to this pattern. If these two letters appear after the letter -c-, then we use the -ei- combination. We can see this exception at work in words like receive, ceiling, deceit and conceit.
   
• Or when sounding like "ay" as in neighbor and weigh: Here's another important exception. If the combination of these two letters is pronounced "ay" as in neighbor and weigh, then we spell it -ei-. Here are some more words that follow this exception: sleigh, eight, beige and freight.
   

While the "I Before E" poem certainly helps writers remember when to use -ie- and when to use -ei-, it does not, unfortunately, cover all the exceptions. Here are a few more words that use the -ei- combination even though the two letters do not follow -c-, nor do they sound like "ay:" either, neither, foreign, height and weird.

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Silent -e

As you've probably noticed by now, many words in English end with an -e that is not pronounced. It is silent. We can see this common pattern in words such as state, like, advance, change, write, use, and combine.

Now, if we want to add a suffix to words with a silent final -e, this quiet little letter needs to go sometimes, but when? Let's look at a few examples. Pay attention to which words keep the final -e and which words drop it. Also, pay attention to what letter the suffix, which is underlined, begins with.

So what is the pattern?

First, let's look at the words that keep the final -e:

• statement, useful, and likeness.

Here are some more:

• announcement, closely, and advancement.

Now let's focus on their suffixes:

All of these suffixes begin with consonants: m, f, n and l.

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Now let's look at the words that dropped the final -e:

• stating, using, and liking.

Here are some more:

• combination, completion, and memorization.

Now let's focus on their suffixes:

All of these suffixes begin with vowels: i and a.

• Rule: If you add a suffix that starts with a consonant (ex. b, c, d, f, g, h, etc.) to a word that ends in a silent -e, keep the -e.
• Rule: If you add a suffix that starts with a vowel (ex. a, e, i, o, etc.) to a word that ends in a silent -e, drop the -e.

Now that we have established some rules, let's look at some exceptions.

• Exception: Some words do not follow these rules, for example:

The rule of dropping the silent -e affects many words in English, and we will see it in operation again when we look at adding -ed, -ing and other endings to words.