5. When the sound is  c,  remember  the  rhyme,  “i before  e  except  after  c ...” Examples: a.  Believe,  belief,  relieve,  relief b.  Receive,  conceive,  perceive,  conceit Exceptions: Weird, seize, neither, leisure, financier, inveigle. 6. The previous rhyme ends “ . . . or when sounded as a as in neighbor or weigh.” 7.  Verbs  ending  in  ie  generally  change   ie to  y before  ing. Examples: Die, dying; lie, lying Learning to spell is more a matter of establishing a correct  image  of  each  word  than  of  applying  rules. Usually the image is a visual one. Knowing the correct pronunciation often helps, but in the English language we  have  many  words  for  which  pronunciation  is  no guide to spelling (e.g., duty, beauty, grew, blue), so we must  rely  on  the  way  the  word  looks.  While  you  are looking up an unfamiliar word, make an effort to fix its spelling  in  your  mind  along  with  the  meaning  and pronunciation. PUNCTUATION Punctuation in writing serves the same purpose as voice  inflection  in  speaking.  Roper  phrasing  avoids ambiguity,  ensures  clarity  and  lessens  the  need  for punctuation. Period The  period  (.) serves  the  following  functions  as shown  in each example: Ellipsis The ellipsis ( . . . ), three periods and two spaces, is used  for  the  following  functions  as  shown  in  each example: To  indicate  omitted  material Example: “I pledge allegiance to the flag . . . and to the Republic. . ..”) Comma The  comma  (,)  serves  the  following  functions  as shown in each example: To separate various elements within a sentence and to indicate a slight pause Examples:  When  lightning  struck,  Bob  Smith fainted.  When  lightning  struck  Bob,  Smith fainted. To separate clauses Example:  They  fought  the  battle,  but  no  one won. To separate a series Example:  Neither snow, rain nor heat  ... To  set  off  attributions Example:  “The  work,”  he  said,  “was  exacting and  satisfying.” To set off apposition or contrast Example:  Wilson,  the  favorite,  won  handily. As used in the following examples, the comma is omitted before Roman numerals, Jr., Sr., the ampersand (&),  the  dash,  in  street  addresses  and  Social  Security numbers. Examples: Louis XIV, Joe James Jr., Smith &Co., 54321   Pine   St.,   123-45-6789. To mark the end of a sentence Example: Close the door. To accentuate most abbreviations Newspaper usage has, inmost cases, eliminated the comma before “and” and “or” in a series, but a comma is   still   required   before   “and,”   “or”   and   other conjunctions   in   compound   sentences.   Note   the following example: Example: Fish abounded in the lake, and the shore was lined with deer. Examples:   U.S.,   c.o.d. To  separate  integral  and  decimal  numerals Examples: 3.75 percent, $3.75, 3.75 meters 6-10