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Common Errors (ENGLISH)

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  • edited March 2013
    General Rule : Rhyme:

    i before e,
    Except after c,
    Or when sounded as "a,"
    As in neighbour and weigh.


    ie in believe, fierce, collie, die, friend

    ei after c in deceive, ceiling, receipt, receive

    However, its short form as above has several common exceptions; for example:
    ie after c: species, science, sufficient
    ei not preceded by c: seize, weird, vein, foreign, eider, their, feisty

    More Exceptions

    Words having cie:
    Inflections of words ending -cy (fancied, policies, etc.)

    Suffixes -ier or -iety after a root ending in -c(e) (financier, glacier, society, etc.), or after a root ending in -cy, to make a comparison from an adjective (e.g., bouncier), or a noun from a verb (e.g., fancier—one who fancies) species

    words ending -cient, -cience, and -ciency, including: words derived from the Latin verb ficio: pro-/suf-/de-/efficient and their inflections. Note: deficiencies, efficiencies, sufficiencies, proficiencies have cie twice each.

    science and related words and inflections (conscience, prescient, etc.) ancient

    Many words have ei not preceded by c:

    the "silent g" words: neigh, neighbour, sleigh, sleight, weigh, weight, height, eight, freight, inveigh,

    Prefixes de- or re- before words starting with i (deindustrialize, reignite, etc.)

    Chemical names ending in -ein or -eine (caffeine, casein, codeine, phthalein, protein, etc.)

    Inflection -ing of those verbs with roots ending in e which do not drop the e (being, seeing, swingeing, etc.)

    Other words: veil (and derivatives unveil, surveil, etc.), vein, rein, heinous, beige, feint, skein, inveigle, obeisance, their
  • sorry for the delayed reply, i intend to post 2 rules daily over a period of 40-50 days. i guess around 100 rules will suffice all the major errors we commit.
  • @Anurag_Sinha =D>
    Good initiative! Will contribute.
    Nice initiative. =D>
  • I see majority of us do not know the difference between 'lose' and 'loose'.

    LOSE - Verb
    Be deprived of or cease to have or retain (something): "I've lost my appetite".
    Cause (someone) to fail to gain or retain (something): "you lost me my appointment at the university".

    LOOSE - Adjective
    Not firmly or tightly fixed in place; detached or able to be detached: "a loose tooth".
    Verb
    Set free; release: "the hounds have been loosed".
  • Another common grammatical mistake is the usage of 'Cope Up'. Unfortunately the correct grammar would be 'Cope With'.

    Example - Sush could not cope with the changing pattern of the exam and hence decided to shift her focus to other examinations.
  • @PoliceWala gajab. isi baat pe ye lo aaj ~:> todo. :D
  • edited March 2013
    @all, @PoliceWala, Cope up with kuch hota he kya?
  • Rule 3.

    Some nouns are always used in plural form and always take plural form.


    Trousers, scissors, spectacles goods, alms, premises chattels.

    Eg. Spectacles is now a costly item (incorrect)
    Spectacles are now a costly item (correct)
  • Rule 4.

    There are some nouns that indicate length, measure, weight or number. When they are preceded by a numeral the remain Unchanged


    Foot, metre, pair, dozen, year, hundred, million etc.

    Eg. It is a three years degree course (incorrect)
    It is a three year degree course. (correct)

  • @fallen_leaves CAT wale sirjee kuch inputs to daliye. english and quant is yur forte after-all. :D
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