Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site fortune.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!we13!ihnp4!fortune!crane From: crane@fortune.UUCP (John Crane) Newsgroups: net.nlang Subject: Question about "an" Message-ID: <2448@fortune.UUCP> Date: Mon, 6-Feb-84 16:17:17 EST Article-I.D.: fortune.2448 Posted: Mon Feb 6 16:17:17 1984 Date-Received: Thu, 9-Feb-84 08:57:52 EST Organization: Fortune Systems, Redwood City, CA Lines: 38 The decision to use "a" or "an" has largely to do the initial sound of the noun which follows. It's hard to explain but generally if the noun starts with a vowel or a VOWEL-LIKE sound, we use "an". If it begins with a consonant or CONSONANT-LIKE sound, we use "a". For example: an animal an eskimo an item an oversight an understatement a bobcat a ghost a rabbit Here are some exceptions: an historic occasion a habbit of a universal problem Try switching the articles and see how hard they are to pronounce. The h flows so easily into the i, they almost slur together. We almost say "anistoric". Maybe we're all lazy, but that's the way we commonly use it, so it becomes a rule of grammar. The u in universal has a y sound, which sounds like a consonant. So here we use plain old "a". I think we are dealing with the same thing when we talk about certain Eastern dialects who say things like "The problem with CubaR is...". THe "r" only gets added to the ends of words which end in vowels when the following word begins with another vowel. They prefer not to slur between vowels, so they add the intervening "r".