238 English Grammar Demystifi ed
RULE 8: I BEFORE E EXCEPT AFTER C
believe relief
receive niece
Exceptions to this rule occur when e comes before iin words that have a long a
sound:
neighbor weigh
Other exceptions include:
weird leisure neither seize
Written Practice 10-6
Choose the correctly spelled word in each of the following sentences.
- I will feel great (relief/releif) once I have fi nished my report.
- Does your (neice/niece) come to stay with you every summer?
- “(Sieze/Seize) the day,” is a famous saying.
- Once she (deceived/decieved) me, I couldn’t be her friend.
- We’ll have more (liesure/leisure) time next month.
RULE 9: RULES FOR FORMING PLURALS
Add an s to most words.
rug rugs
shoe shoes
Add es to words ending in -o preceded by a consonant.
hero heroes
tomato tomatoes
Add only an sto words that end in -o preceded by a consonant and refer to
music.
alto altos
piano pianos