Wednesday February 15, 2012

JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION

British government spells end of 'i before e' rule

World Jun. 21, 2009 - 04:49AM JST ( 23 )

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23 Comments

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pathatJun. 21, 2009 - 09:51AM JST

They should continue to teach it and students will learn the exceptions gradually.

Weird.
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smithinjapanJun. 21, 2009 - 10:15AM JST

"But supporters say the ditty has value because it is one of the few language rules that most people remember."

That may be so, but memorizing something as a rule only to find it's full of holes isn't really helpful. I do agree that there's no real harm in teaching it, so long as after they learn the little mantra they are told there are plenty of exceptions.
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Den DenJun. 21, 2009 - 10:33AM JST

Governments can change languages? That is news to me.
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cow76Jun. 21, 2009 - 12:29PM JST

Good news, there are hundreds of common exceptions to that rule.
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nandakandamandaJun. 21, 2009 - 01:05PM JST

That's how children learn languages. They learn the rules, and then they gradually learn the exceptions.

Take away this useful little ditty and British people's spelling will be even worse than it is now. So, are 'their' and 'thier' both fine now?

FFS. Plain stupid, IMHO.
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MildredRoperJun. 21, 2009 - 03:12PM JST

Why do they always have to change everything ? It makes me so cross. Half the kids these days can't even read or write when they finish school anyway.
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MadvertsJun. 21, 2009 - 05:10PM JST

Heh, this is sure to end the chronic British social problems. I'm glad to see elected officials putting their time into things such as these, rather than screwing the tax-payer for expenses.
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kirakira25Jun. 21, 2009 - 05:35PM JST

Madverts - was just thinking exactly the same thing myself! I wonder how much money was sunk into this research and how many members of the "i before e rule" committee it took to come up with this little adjustment.

Immigration is out of control, all our politicians have their snouts in the trough, and towards the end of June the weather is STILL CRAP....but at least we've clarified the i before e rule!
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MadvertsJun. 21, 2009 - 06:03PM JST

KiraKira,

Move to France :) Few chav's here and the weather's been dandy...
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realistJun. 21, 2009 - 07:35PM JST

More interference by Britain`s Big Brother Communist government. T Roll on the next election until we can rid ourselves of this shower of imbeciles. I will personally ask David Cameron to revoke this jackboot nonsense when he becomes Prime Minister.
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MadvertsJun. 21, 2009 - 07:46PM JST

Realist,

Cameron is no better. There is no one worth voting for, just like in France.

Moderator: Back on topic please.
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bobobolinskiJun. 21, 2009 - 07:56PM JST

The advice to teachers comes not from the "government" as in Mr Brown and his commie pals, but from a 120 page report prepared by the education ministry; ie, by education experts who are looking at ways in which elementary level children can learn to write better. One of the hundreds of recommendations in the report is that the "i before e" rule is confusing since there are so many exceptions. So, before condemning something out of hand, take the veil from your eyes, and weigh the evidence.
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nandakandamandaJun. 21, 2009 - 08:22PM JST

Take the viel from my eyes and wiegh the evidence, you say? Iether that or lay seige, erm siege, to thier great seat of speis, Downing Street and demand another little ditty instead. Niether a tip nor a word of advice to help us? Erk, how do you tell how to spell these words, then? By rote learning perhaps? That must be it, a clever plan to take us all back to spelling bees and memory feats.

Anyway, even though there are many exceptions, you can usually work out the reason for them. Well, hundreds of millions of people have been able to so far, with pretty fair success.
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nandakandamandaJun. 21, 2009 - 08:28PM JST

Take a look at this sentence:

The “Support For Spelling” document, which is being sent to thousands of primary schools, says the rule “is not worth teaching” because it doesn’t account for words like ‘sufficient,’ ‘veil’ and ‘their.’

It was never meant to account for the three words given above. They have not traditionally been a problem for people. 'Suffici-ent' you can get by the sound. 'Their' is of a family with They, Them, etc. and would look odd spelt any other way. Veil, perhaps, but again you can learn it by the sound it starts off with... Give us some decent examples, please! :headbang:
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cleoJun. 21, 2009 - 08:36PM JST

nandakanda is right. When we learned it at school it was "i before e except after c, when the sound is double ee". Words like veil, their, weigh etc., follow the rule, they aren't exceptions at all.
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bobobolinskiJun. 21, 2009 - 09:13PM JST

Well, while I am at leisure, I could seize the opportunity to point out that the rule should be: i before e EXCEPT after c, EXCEPT for words which don't sound like "ee", EXCEPT for words of recent foreign importation, and EXCEPT for a few other exceptions. Nifty little rule that one.
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BeerpleaseJun. 21, 2009 - 09:16PM JST

How 'bout: i before e except when the red line appears below it.
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Pukey2Jun. 21, 2009 - 09:24PM JST

cleo:

When we learned it at school it was "i before e except after c, when the sound is double ee".

That's exactly what I was going to say. Hence, we have believe and receive. I've always found that rule useful. I also remember learning that there's a rat in separate.
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InformedJun. 21, 2009 - 10:45PM JST

'i' before 'e' except after 'c'... weird.