British Gov't ends "i before e" rule

[Andy9o8 0]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090620/ap_on_re_eu/eu_britain_spelling_shake_up

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British government spells end of 'i before e' rule

LONDON – It's a spelling mantra that generations of schoolchildren have learned — "i before e, except after c."

But new British government guidance tells teachers not to pass on the rule to students, because there are too many exceptions.

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.'

Jack Bovill of the Spelling Society, which advocates simplified spelling, said Saturday he agreed with the decision.

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

Seems ... weird.

[shropshire 0]

Yeah, but we like weird over here

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[jakee 1,257]

I can vaguely remember my primary school teacher telling us about "i before e" before saying something along the lines of "But don't pay any attention to it because it is so often wrong".

The man was obviously 20 years ahead of his time, a visionary!

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[Nataly 38]

That's just silly!! Name one rule that *always* applies!! Learning English as a second language, I found this one particularly useful.. *sigh*.. Oh well..

"There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse."
- Chris Hadfield
« Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. »
- my boss

[shropshire 0]

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Name one rule that *always* applies!!

"Americans can't spell or say Aluminium correctly"

See dead easy to find such a universal rule

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[JohnRich 4]

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That's just silly!! Name one rule that *always* applies!!

"Always" is such a big word.

You seem to be saying that we should adopt the philosophy that if any rule has an exception to it, then it's not a rule. And since there are always exceptions, therefore there are no rules. And that's no good for teaching English.

I think it's okay to have rules with some exceptions. But at some point if the number of exceptions becomes too great, then it can't be called a rule any more.

[Andy9o8 0]

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Name one rule that *always* applies!!

"Get the fee first."