When to use ‘a’ or ‘an’
Posted on | January 14, 2008 | 14 Comments
We are geeks. We’re capable of banging out instructions to computers in a plethora of languages. What escapes most of us is simple English. To our defense, English is not so simple.
I’ve been editing some documentation submitted for a few of the free software packages that I manage. I am compelled to preach to my fellow geeks the correct use of ‘a’ or ‘an’ in a sentence.
If the word coming after ‘a’ or ‘an’ starts with a vowel, use ‘an’. Otherwise, use ‘a’, simple, eh? Lets see some examples:
He was run over by an ostrich.
He was run over by a truck.
See? Easy 
Comments
14 Responses to “When to use ‘a’ or ‘an’”
Leave a Reply
January 24th, 2008 @ 5:05 pm
Note, if the ‘sometimes Y’ rule is invoked, its still ‘a’. For instance:
He was run over by a yetti.
In the sense of when to use ‘a’ or ‘an’, ‘y’ does not qualify as a vowel. Thanks for the emails, however
–Tim
February 4th, 2008 @ 8:35 pm
what about an honor, an hour
March 22nd, 2008 @ 6:28 am
An “an” should precede a word that SOUND like a vowel.
h is silent in hour. So its an hour.
http://www.english-zone.com/grammar/a-anlessn.html
September 17th, 2008 @ 7:04 pm
Abbreviations throw up some strange stuff with the use of ‘a’ or ‘an’. For example:- “I need a Non-Conformance Report(NCR)”, becomes when abbreviated, “I need an NCR”. Can you explain this, or is this the correct use of ‘an’ ?
September 18th, 2008 @ 10:57 am
@stn: That’s a corner case. If the word following (a or an) starts with a vowel or is pronounced with a vowel sound .. you should use ‘an’.
So ‘I need a NCR’ would be correct. However, NCR is very close to a vowel sound, since N is phonetically “en”.
In cases like that, its probably best to just avoid the acronym. For instance:
I need a non conformance report (NCR) , vs just saying I need a/an NCR.
October 13th, 2008 @ 10:06 am
Cool. Thanks . I didnt know this before.
January 11th, 2009 @ 3:25 am
I’d like to elaborate with a few more examples regarding vowel sounds…
The following are correct:
a user (“yoo-zer”) an MOT (“am-oh-tee”) // looks odd a eulogy (“yoo-loh-gee”) // looks odd
Certainly not always obvious, imho.
March 14th, 2009 @ 1:47 am
I just came across a british headline that said “an hillarious appearance”. I have heard an used with a consonant in a number of instances by the british. What gives?
May 19th, 2009 @ 10:48 pm
The usage actually isn’t as simple as it’s made to sound. There are exceptions to the rules. For instance, I was taught that whether or not to use “a” or “an” depends on the noun it precedes, even if there is an adjective before the noun.
Example:
a orange car an gray elephant
This may not be correct, since I’ve often questioned it myself, but it’s what I was taught, so I’ve generally stuck to it. The exception being that, when the noun is proper and the ‘adjective’ is actually part of the name, you use a or an accordingly.
The justification for this rule was given as follows: The words ‘a’ and ‘an’ modify a noun, and cannot modify an adjective. As such, which one is used depends on the noun that it precedes.
July 15th, 2009 @ 1:43 am
Which sentence is correct?
Try a Arnold Palmer Iced tea.
Try an Arnold Palmer iced tea.
Try Arnold Palmer iced tea.
July 15th, 2009 @ 3:50 am
Appreciate help with this. Thanks, Sheelagh
August 26th, 2009 @ 10:05 pm
While editing a recorded announcement, the voice over said, “…this lady is “a” MS patient. This follows the rules of “a” and “an”, but I believe it is to be “an” instead. Any comments?
August 29th, 2009 @ 5:08 pm
The consensus seems to be to eliminate the abbreviation in cases such as that. It would be better to say “The lady is a muscular distrophy patient”, which agrees with the rule and the tounge.
November 10th, 2009 @ 1:13 pm
MS is multiple sclerosis; muscular dystrophy is abbreviated MD.
It would be ‘an’ MS patient, because it is pronounced ‘em’ with a starting vowel sound. You don’t have to avoid abbreviations.