T. O. CHEW.
March, 1914.
A FEW SIMPLE RULES FOR SPELLING
When the diphthongs ei and ie are pronounced [=e], c is followed by ei, all other letters by ie. Examples: ceiling, receive, siege, believe. Exceptions: leisure, seize, weird. The word slice will help pupils to remember this rule—i after l and e after c when applied to believe and receive.
Final y following a consonant changes to i before a suffix not beginning with i. Examples: busy, business; dry, dried. When the suffix begins with i, as in -ing and -ish, the y is retained to avoid having double i. Examples: try, trying; baby, babyish.
When the final y follows a vowel, the y is retained before a suffix. Examples: toy, toyed; betray, betrayed; annoy, annoyed.