ei ey

Lessons 74 and 76 focus on pronunciation and spelling patterns that follow the oft-repeated memory device: “I [comes] before e except after c or when the letters say ā, as in neighbor and weigh.” There are only a few words that do not follow this cei pattern, as we will see shortly.

I NEW PATTERN. Introduce the cei and ei spelling patterns. These combinations are pronounced with the long-vowel e sound, as seen in ceiling and seize. This faithfully follows the regular pattern for long-vowel words: the first vowel says its name while the second vowel is silent. As far as pronunciation goes, whenever c is followed by an e, i, or y, the c will be pronounced |s|—for example, ceiling, city, and cycle. [See Lesson 71] When vowels are followed by the letter r, there will be a slight change in their sound, as is apparent in weird.

II LEARN the ey spelling with the long vowel e sound |ē|, as in key and money. The y functions as the second vowel in these words.

III LEARN the ei and ey patterns that make a long-vowel a sound |ā|, as in veil and they. The |ā| pronunciation for ei and ey is rare. The ei spelling with the |ā| sound is found in French-inspired words.

IV LEARN the ei and ey spelling patterns with the long vowel i sound |ī|, as in feisty and eye. These are extremely rare patterns, also.

V REVIEW the ei and ey spellings that involve individual syllables, as in deice (|dē • īs|) and beyond (|bē • yŏnd|).

Review: ei ey

VI REVIEW the ei and ey spelling patterns found in such words as ceiling, seize, key, money, veil, they, feisty, eye, deice, and beyond.

A few words spelled with ei or ey are pronounced with the |ĕ|, |ǝ|, or |ĭ| sound. Among these words are heifer, there, their, they’re, and foreign. A usage note regarding the homophones there, their, and there is provided in Lesson 84.

Devote adequate time to spelling words. This is especially important now that the words are getting longer and more complex.