Quote:
Originally posted by billydee
I don't know exactly who the 'a' or 'an' thing is supposed to work, but from what i remember 'an' goes before any word starting with a vowel.
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I just pulled my copy of "Woe is I" off the shelf (excellent reference text by Patricia T. O'Conner). Here's the a/an story:
Use
a in front of words that start with these sounds: a "sounded"
h (the
ha-ha variety, as in
history,
horror,
hotel);a "long"
u (the
yew variety, as in
university,
utopia,
eulogy,
European).
Use
an in front of words that start with these sounds: a "silent"
h (
hour,
honor,
herbal); a "short"
u (
uncle,
umbrella,
umber).