“I just can’t take it anymore!”
Elbows planted on his desk, Dis Connect clutched his remaining wisps of hair in an attempt to control his frustration.
“I know the rule is ‘i before e except after c,‘ but that doesn’t work for in lieu of,” he groaned. “How am I supposed to get this report done if I can’t get the spelling right?”
Grammar Smith nodded in sympathy.
“The old saw has more than that,” she explained. “The whole thing is ‘i before e except after c and in words like neighbor and weigh.’ The long a words tend to be the exception.”
“That’s the problem,” Dis exclaimed. “There’s a rule, but there are almost as many exceptions as rules. How’s a body supposed to deal with that?”
“Yes, just when you think you’ve got it settled, someone tosses in a word like leisure to throw it all into confusion again,” Grammar said. “The thing to remember is that it isn’t a hard and fast rule; it’s more a guideline. I use it for words I tend to confuse like chief and shield.”
“Thanks goodness for Spellcheck!” Dis declared as he pounded away at his keyboard.
Writing-Insight-Success 