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For the English Language masters...

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  • M Mustafa Ismail Mustafa

    The general rule is 'i' before 'e' except after c. But don't use it as a strict rule, there are many exceptions. 'weird' is one of them :)

    "Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning." - Rick Cook "There is no wealth like knowledge, no poverty like ignorance." Ali ibn Abi Talib "Animadvertistine, ubicumque stes, fumum recta in faciem ferri?"

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    Vasudevan Deepak Kumar
    wrote on last edited by
    #9

    Thank you. :)

    Vasudevan Deepak Kumar Personal Homepage
    Tech Gossips
    A pessimist sees only the dark side of the clouds, and mopes; a philosopher sees both sides, and shrugs; an optimist doesn't see the clouds at all - he's walking on them. --Leonard Louis Levinson

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    • S soap brain

      I've never personally needed to learn any rules about this - I've always been right on instinct ever since I was very little. However, this looks like it knows what it's talking about.[^] At the end, it says, "Use i before e except after c or when sounded like a as in neighbor or weigh; and except seize and seizure and also leisure, weird, height, and either, forfeit, and neither."

      "What am I in the eyes of most people, a nonentity, an eccentric, or an unpleasant person--somebody who has no position in society and will never have; in short, the lowest of the low. All right, then--even if that were absolutely true, then I should one day like to show by my work what such an eccentric, such a nobody, has in his heart."

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      Vasudevan Deepak Kumar
      wrote on last edited by
      #10

      Ravel H. Joyce wrote:

      I've always been right on instinct

      :) Thank you.

      Vasudevan Deepak Kumar Personal Homepage
      Tech Gossips
      A pessimist sees only the dark side of the clouds, and mopes; a philosopher sees both sides, and shrugs; an optimist doesn't see the clouds at all - he's walking on them. --Leonard Louis Levinson

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      • V Vasudevan Deepak Kumar

        Thank you. :)

        Vasudevan Deepak Kumar Personal Homepage
        Tech Gossips
        A pessimist sees only the dark side of the clouds, and mopes; a philosopher sees both sides, and shrugs; an optimist doesn't see the clouds at all - he's walking on them. --Leonard Louis Levinson

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        Mustafa Ismail Mustafa
        wrote on last edited by
        #11

        Hey no worries :)

        "Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning." - Rick Cook "There is no wealth like knowledge, no poverty like ignorance." Ali ibn Abi Talib "Animadvertistine, ubicumque stes, fumum recta in faciem ferri?"

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        • V Vasudevan Deepak Kumar

          Ravel H. Joyce wrote:

          I've always been right on instinct

          :) Thank you.

          Vasudevan Deepak Kumar Personal Homepage
          Tech Gossips
          A pessimist sees only the dark side of the clouds, and mopes; a philosopher sees both sides, and shrugs; an optimist doesn't see the clouds at all - he's walking on them. --Leonard Louis Levinson

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          Rajesh R Subramanian
          wrote on last edited by
          #12

          Ravel H Joyce wrote:

          I've always been right on instincg

          Vasudevan Deepak K wrote:

          Thank you.

          :confused:

          Nobody can give you wiser advice than yourself. - Cicero .·´¯`·->Rajesh<-·´¯`·. ...formerly known as brahmma Codeproject.com: Visual C++ MVP

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          • S soap brain

            I've never personally needed to learn any rules about this - I've always been right on instinct ever since I was very little. However, this looks like it knows what it's talking about.[^] At the end, it says, "Use i before e except after c or when sounded like a as in neighbor or weigh; and except seize and seizure and also leisure, weird, height, and either, forfeit, and neither."

            "What am I in the eyes of most people, a nonentity, an eccentric, or an unpleasant person--somebody who has no position in society and will never have; in short, the lowest of the low. All right, then--even if that were absolutely true, then I should one day like to show by my work what such an eccentric, such a nobody, has in his heart."

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            Vikram A Punathambekar
            wrote on last edited by
            #13

            Ravel H. Joyce wrote:

            I've never personally needed to learn any rules about this - I've always been right on instinct ever since I was very little.

            Same here, and my family doesn't even speak English (except for my younger brother, but I don't speak English with him).

            Cheers, Vikram.


            "If a trend is truly global, then that trend ought to be visible across ANY subset of that data" - fat_boy

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            • H hayrob

              "i" before "e" except after "c". Correct: believe, receive

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              benjymous
              wrote on last edited by
              #14

              Sadly this rule isn't sufficient either, to be honest, you could try in vein to work out standardised rules - The English language is somewhat weird and inconsistant, probably due to the kaleidoscopic way it's been merged from various sources, since ancient times most of our European neighbours have invaded at some point or other, and the language reflects that with many foreign influenced words. Science tends not to play by the rules either. You could probably do with some caffeine by now, I'm sure!

              -- Help me! I'm turning into a grapefruit! Buzzwords!

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              • B benjymous

                Sadly this rule isn't sufficient either, to be honest, you could try in vein to work out standardised rules - The English language is somewhat weird and inconsistant, probably due to the kaleidoscopic way it's been merged from various sources, since ancient times most of our European neighbours have invaded at some point or other, and the language reflects that with many foreign influenced words. Science tends not to play by the rules either. You could probably do with some caffeine by now, I'm sure!

                -- Help me! I'm turning into a grapefruit! Buzzwords!

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                moon_stick
                wrote on last edited by
                #15

                I'm pretty sure that you try 'in vain' rather than 'in vein' but a nice post to show some of the horrible inconsistencies in English! Gets my 5 :-)

                It definitely isn't definatley

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                • J Johann Gerell

                  So, I'm Swedish and have some difficulties to differ between "insure" and "ensure". When coding, I tend to use "ensure" as in the function void EnsureProperState() and in the comment // Ensures that nothing bad will happen with bla bla bla. To me "insure" is about physical insurance, like "life insurance" or "vehicle insurance". Is there a more strict difference between them?

                  -- Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time - Bertrand Russel

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                  moon_stick
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #16

                  According to the Oxford English Dictionary: insure • verb 1 arrange for compensation in the event of damage to or loss of (property, life, or a person), in exchange for regular payments to a company. 2 secure the payment of (a sum) in this way. 3 (insure against) protect (someone) against (a possible eventuality). 4 another term for ENSURE. so technically you can use either. Personally, I would tend to use ensure to mean 'to make sure some has or will happen' and use insure as in term 1 of the above definition. Strangely, words starting in / en don't always have different meanings - enquire and inquire for example, both mean the same thing.

                  It definitely isn't definatley

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                  • J Johann Gerell

                    So, I'm Swedish and have some difficulties to differ between "insure" and "ensure". When coding, I tend to use "ensure" as in the function void EnsureProperState() and in the comment // Ensures that nothing bad will happen with bla bla bla. To me "insure" is about physical insurance, like "life insurance" or "vehicle insurance". Is there a more strict difference between them?

                    -- Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time - Bertrand Russel

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                    Dalek Dave
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #17

                    You have it exactly. To Ensure means to guarantee something happens, to Insure is to guard against! That seems a bit trite, but your definition is absolutely correct.

                    ------------------------------------ I try to appear cooler, by calling him Euler.

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                    • S soap brain

                      I've never personally needed to learn any rules about this - I've always been right on instinct ever since I was very little. However, this looks like it knows what it's talking about.[^] At the end, it says, "Use i before e except after c or when sounded like a as in neighbor or weigh; and except seize and seizure and also leisure, weird, height, and either, forfeit, and neither."

                      "What am I in the eyes of most people, a nonentity, an eccentric, or an unpleasant person--somebody who has no position in society and will never have; in short, the lowest of the low. All right, then--even if that were absolutely true, then I should one day like to show by my work what such an eccentric, such a nobody, has in his heart."

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                      Dalek Dave
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #18

                      Ravel H. Joyce wrote:

                      I've always been right on instinct

                      ALWAYS? Thats quite a boast, even Einstein said he was wrong once! (ok he was wrong when he mis-corrected what was already right about his special theory, he soon corrected it back :) )

                      ------------------------------------ I try to appear cooler, by calling him Euler.

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                      • B benjymous

                        Sadly this rule isn't sufficient either, to be honest, you could try in vein to work out standardised rules - The English language is somewhat weird and inconsistant, probably due to the kaleidoscopic way it's been merged from various sources, since ancient times most of our European neighbours have invaded at some point or other, and the language reflects that with many foreign influenced words. Science tends not to play by the rules either. You could probably do with some caffeine by now, I'm sure!

                        -- Help me! I'm turning into a grapefruit! Buzzwords!

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                        ChandraRam
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #19

                        benjymous wrote:

                        inconsistaent

                        :)

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                        • D Dalek Dave

                          Ravel H. Joyce wrote:

                          I've always been right on instinct

                          ALWAYS? Thats quite a boast, even Einstein said he was wrong once! (ok he was wrong when he mis-corrected what was already right about his special theory, he soon corrected it back :) )

                          ------------------------------------ I try to appear cooler, by calling him Euler.

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                          soap brain
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #20

                          Yes, always. ;P

                          "What am I in the eyes of most people, a nonentity, an eccentric, or an unpleasant person--somebody who has no position in society and will never have; in short, the lowest of the low. All right, then--even if that were absolutely true, then I should one day like to show by my work what such an eccentric, such a nobody, has in his heart."

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                          • S soap brain

                            Yes, always. ;P

                            "What am I in the eyes of most people, a nonentity, an eccentric, or an unpleasant person--somebody who has no position in society and will never have; in short, the lowest of the low. All right, then--even if that were absolutely true, then I should one day like to show by my work what such an eccentric, such a nobody, has in his heart."

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                            Dalek Dave
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #21

                            I like your Confidence! :-D

                            ------------------------------------ I try to appear cooler, by calling him Euler.

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                            • D Dalek Dave

                              I like your Confidence! :-D

                              ------------------------------------ I try to appear cooler, by calling him Euler.

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                              soap brain
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #22

                              I like your praise!

                              "What am I in the eyes of most people, a nonentity, an eccentric, or an unpleasant person--somebody who has no position in society and will never have; in short, the lowest of the low. All right, then--even if that were absolutely true, then I should one day like to show by my work what such an eccentric, such a nobody, has in his heart."

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                              • J Johann Gerell

                                So, I'm Swedish and have some difficulties to differ between "insure" and "ensure". When coding, I tend to use "ensure" as in the function void EnsureProperState() and in the comment // Ensures that nothing bad will happen with bla bla bla. To me "insure" is about physical insurance, like "life insurance" or "vehicle insurance". Is there a more strict difference between them?

                                -- Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time - Bertrand Russel

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                                Lost User
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #23

                                Use "make sure" instead of "ensure". That way you'll never go wrong and you don't have to remember all those prefixes. Example: int i, e; i = i; // make sure that i is i e = e; // ... and e is e :)

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                                • L Lost User

                                  Use "make sure" instead of "ensure". That way you'll never go wrong and you don't have to remember all those prefixes. Example: int i, e; i = i; // make sure that i is i e = e; // ... and e is e :)

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                                  Johann Gerell
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #24

                                  Well, that doesn't fit into my way of naming functions: MakeSureXYZ() would in my world mean that a SureXYZ object will be somehow "made" by that function, whereas EnsureXYZ() cannot be misunderstood. :)

                                  -- Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time - Bertrand Russel

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                                  • J Johann Gerell

                                    So, I'm Swedish and have some difficulties to differ between "insure" and "ensure". When coding, I tend to use "ensure" as in the function void EnsureProperState() and in the comment // Ensures that nothing bad will happen with bla bla bla. To me "insure" is about physical insurance, like "life insurance" or "vehicle insurance". Is there a more strict difference between them?

                                    -- Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time - Bertrand Russel

                                    realJSOPR Online
                                    realJSOPR Online
                                    realJSOP
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #25

                                    You are correct sir.

                                    "Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
                                    -----
                                    "...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001

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                                    • realJSOPR realJSOP

                                      You are correct sir.

                                      "Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
                                      -----
                                      "...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001

                                      J Offline
                                      J Offline
                                      Johann Gerell
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #26

                                      Gosh! I'm flabbergasted! I've never been "sir"-ed before... :rolleyes:

                                      -- Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time - Bertrand Russel

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                                      • J Johann Gerell

                                        Well, that doesn't fit into my way of naming functions: MakeSureXYZ() would in my world mean that a SureXYZ object will be somehow "made" by that function, whereas EnsureXYZ() cannot be misunderstood. :)

                                        -- Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time - Bertrand Russel

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                                        L Offline
                                        Lost User
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #27

                                        I thought it was about the use of "ensure" inside comments, not naming functions with it. In that case, using Ensure as a prefix sounds just as weird to me as using MakeSure. :P If I'm not sure about something I just ASSERT it and fix problems later.

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