In response to criticism of a previous study, this paper reports a revision of a proposed phonics rule "when there are two vowels, one of which is a final e, the first vowel is long and the final e is silent" (cradle), which is called the VCE (Vowel Consonant E) rule. Following an introductory section, the paper examines previous research, citing studies that tested the utility of the VCE rule, most of which claimed the rule worked over 50% of the time. The third section deals with a new study, which analyzed words in the "New Grolier International Dictionary of the English Language" for applicability of the VCE rule. This section notes that the words in the study were divided into 12 categories according to many structural and orthographic variations, and that the study's results indicated that words children could most successfully apply the VCE rule to were (1) one syllable, two vowel words with VCE ending pattern (74% utility); (2) one syllable words ending with VCE, VCCE, VCCCE or VcdE (59%); (3) two vowel, one and two syllable words ending in VCE, VCCCE, and VcdE (vowel consonant digraph) (43%); and (4) all multisyllable words with the VCE ending pattern only (54%). The analysis section points out that dividing words into so many combinations of possibilities reveals only the first group has a utility ratio near 75% the accepted cut-off. The conclusion of the paper recommends that the VCE rule no longer be taught in reading classes. (SKC)