Exceptional spelling

SIR – There are, I believe, just six exceptions to the spelling rule “i before e except after c, when the sound is ee” (Letters, February 19) – seize, surfeit, forfeit, counterfeit, protein and sheikh – though developments in the language over the decades might have led to others. Tim Wells

Chickerell, Dorset

SIR – The rule has always made it difficult for me to remember how to spell my middle name. Rosalind Sheila Wills

Birmingham