There is a so-called magic e in fourth place should force the e at 2 place to sound its name. But this rule does not apply to ‘seven’. Why?
3 Answers
This "rule" has so many exceptions that it's really not a rule at all. Many probably are based on what language the word originated from, but that is so varied, it's almost impossible to try to learn which words came from where and how to pronounce them based on that. So, it comes down to the standard answer for just about every "why" question when it comes to English: "Because it's English"
Some exceptions:
- River
- Riven
- Sever
- Lever
- Seven
- Eleven
- Several
- Clever
- Never
- Ever
- Honey
- Money
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The rule applies to words with the following pattern at the end of the word:
{zero or more letters}<vowel><consonant>e
and to words trivially derived from such words. For example:
"derive" ends with "ive", so it follows the pattern, and
"derived" = "derive" - "e" + "ed", and
"deriver" = "derive" - "e" + "er", so they obey the same rule
Notice that this rule usually involves a "silent e".
There is no word "seve". "Seven" is not derived from "seve". And the second "e" in seven is pronounced. Thus, the rule does not apply to "seven".
I assume you're referring to the rule that says if you have an e, then a consonant (optional), then another e, the second e makes the first one "say its name" (i.e. the first e must be tense.)
Examples: Peter, meet, seek. But this doesn't work with seven or eleven, for example.
The reason the rule doesn't apply is because the word seven is a rule-breaker. You could say it's an exception to the rule. Or the rule is not absolute. It's a loose rule. This is English.
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I believe that lever is a "rule-breaker" in American English (though not in British). But ever, clever, sever, several, and leveret ('a young hare') are in all varieties as far as I know. So are haversine, haversack, and hover (and, arguably, words like cover, though they have yet another vowel sound). The thing about rule-breakers is that they, y'know, break the rules. Oct 26, 2015 at 19:13
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4And, as long as you agree to call them "exceptions" instead of "counterexamples", nobody ever notices when they're more common than the instances of the rule. And therefore nobody ever notices when the rule is wrong. Oct 26, 2015 at 21:35
Teacher's t Test
™ rules; these are approximations or assumptions passed down over academic generations from teacher to child who grows up to become a teacher, etc. They are all home-made, and they all leak -- sometimes badly -- because they're based on the fallacious presupposition that English spelling is sposta represent English pronunciation. In fact, it hasn't done so for at least 500 years. As witness the contrast of English spelling with actual English phonemes.