Spelling: 'i' before 'e' except after 'c'

Spelling matters. If you want to create a good impression in your writing and make sure you get your meaning across clearly, it’s important to get your spelling right.

i before e except after c

Most people know the spelling rule about i before e except after c, as in the following words:

-ie-	-ei-
achieve	ceiling
belief	conceit
believe	deceit
chief	deceive
piece	perceive
thief	receipt
yield	receive

 

The rule only applies when the sound represented is ‘ee’, though. It doesn’t apply to words like science or efficient, in which the –ie- combination does follow the letter c but isn’t pronounced ‘ee’.

 

There are a few exceptions to the general i before e rule, even when the sound is ‘ee’. Examples include seize, weird, andcaffeine. There’s nothing for it but to learn how to spell these words, checking in a dictionary until you are sure about them.

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Dangling participles

Participles of verbs are often used to introduce subordinate clauses, which give extra information about the main part of a sentence (known as the main clause). It’s important to use participles in subordinate clauses correctly. The participle should always describe an action performed by the subject of the main part of the sentence. 

For example:

 

Mrs Stevens,	opening the door quietly,	came into the room.
[subject]	[participle]

In this sentence, the present participle (opening) in the subordinate clause refers to the subject of the main clause. Mrs Stevens is both opening the door and coming into the room.

 

Sometimes writers forget this rule and begin a sentence with a participle that doesn’t refer to the subject of their sentence. They then end up with what’s known as a dangling participle, as in this grammatically incorrect statement: 

 

Travelling to Finland,	the weather got colder and colder.
[participle]	[subject]

 

Strictly speaking, this sentence means that it is ‘the weather’ that is ‘travelling to Finland’, which obviously isn’t what the writer was intending to say. The sentence needs to be reworded to make the meaning clear and to make it grammatically correct, e.g.:

 

As I was travelling to Finland, the weather got colder and colder.

or:

 

Travelling to Finland, I found that the weather got colder and colder.

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Different from,than or to

Different from, than, or to

Is there any difference between the expressions different from, different than, and different to? Is one of the three ‘more correct’ than the others?

In practice, different from is by far the most common of the three, in both British and American English:

 

We want to demonstrate that this government is different from previous governments. (British English)

This part is totally different from anything else that he's done. (American English)

 

Different than is mainly used in American English:

 

Teenagers certainly want to look different than their parents.

 

Different to is much more common in British English than American English:

 

In this respect the Royal Academy is no different to any other major museum. 

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