<P> There were widespread media reports of this recommendation, which generated some controversy . </P> <P> The Oxford Dictionaries website of Oxford University Press states "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' ." </P> <P> David Crystal discusses the rule in his 2012 history of English spelling . He first restricts it to the / iː / vowel, then accounts for several classes of exception . He states that, while the exceptions are fewer and rarer than the words that follow the rule, there are too many to learn by heart; the factors are "too great to reduce to a simple rule", but "a basic knowledge of grammar and word - history" can handle them . </P> <P> The following sections list exceptions to the basic form; many are not exceptions to the augmented forms . </P>

Words that have ie or ei in them