My Grammar and I (Or Should That Be 'Me'?): Old-School Ways to Sharpen Your English

Seize the sieve: a spelling rule

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The  most  famous  spelling  rule  is  ‘i’  before  ‘e’  except  after  ‘c’  ,  although  this
does not work for ancient, foreign, neither , protein , science , seize, species , vein
or lots of other words. It really applies only to certain words in which the ie or ei
makes an ee sound: achieve , receive , deceive .
So  even  the  most  famous  spelling  rule  works  only  in  a  very  limited  set  of
circumstances.  Hey  ho.  There  is  really  no  way  round  this  other  than  reading  a
lot, taking note of unfamiliar words and investing in a good dictionary.
One word or two?
As a general rule, one word tends to be an adjective, while two words form the
noun. Here are some common confusions:
alot/a lot
There  is  no  such  word  as  alot  .  A  lot  of  people  know  that  a  lot  should  be  two
words. If you mean to write the verb allot , however, you should allot it two l s.