A and an are what are called indefinite articles. Indefinite articles give us information about nouns. A and an tell us that there is only one of the nouns. For example: a book, or an apple. But how do you know which to pick? How do you know if you should use a or an? Are there exceptions to the rules? If you’ve always been curious, read on to find out!
Indefinite Article: A
You use the article abefore singular countable nouns. It is also used before nouns that begin with a consonant(not a vowel – a,e,i,o,u) sound.
Your statement at the beginning of this post says 'You will, therefore, generally need to use ‘a’ before words beginning with consonants and ‘an’ before words beginning with vowels.' , but I wholeheartedly disagree and I think all your arguments discussing the 'tricky' areas you go on to discuss agree with me: the rule as to whether 'a' or 'an' should be used does not depend on the. Few people would disagree that the spread of the coronavirus is historic, having “great and lasting importance.” (We hope that it will soon be historical, “concerning past events,” too. When to Use An Use An if the next word starts with the sound of a vowel. Examples: an ape, an oak, & an art project Use An if the next word starts with a silent 'h', followed by a vowel.
Gary Herron Yes, strings have a replace method: 'abc def' Also various modules that are meant to deal with web and xml and such have functions to do such operations. I am using Tidy (with PHP5) with UTF8 input, output, and char encoding enabled. When I clean a string with an in it, it is replacing it with an odd character. I've tried messing with the tidy config but nothing I try seems to work.
For example:
- a cat
- a book
- a show
- a TV program
- a cousin
Nouns that start with a consonant use a. There are also some nouns, however, that begin with a vowel, but where a is used as an exception. This is because the noun starts with the consonant-like sound- “you”. That means that they are treated like a noun that starts with a consonant.
For example:
- a university (“you”-niversity)
- a unique situation (“you”-nique)
- a united country (“you”-nited)
Another exception is if the word starts with a hard h sound.
For example:
- a history class
- a hospital
- a helpful hand
Different English accents can have an effect on how a or an is used. British English speakers tend to use an in front of words that begin with h. This is because they pronounce the words that start with h harder and more emphasized.
For example:
- UK English: a herb garden (the h is strongly pronounced)
- US English: an (h)erb garden – the h is silent
Indefinite Article: An
Just like a, an is used before singular countable nouns. However, an is used before nouns that start with a vowel sound.
For example:
- an actor
- an example
- an invitation
- an umbrella
Some words start with a consonant, but are used with an instead of a. This is because some consonants are soft, like some h sounds, or because the consonant has a vowel sound at the beginning.
For example:
- an hour (silent/soft h)
- an F (efff)
- an MBA degree (em-BA)
It’s important to know that it’s not always the spelling that counts with a and an, but the sound! If you don’t know which one to use, say the word in your head or out loud. This will help you pick whether to use a or an.
Do you need any help with a and an? Let us know if you have a question in the comments below!
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Finding the difference between using ‘a’ and ‘an’ is something my students really struggle with. My younger students especially stress themselves out trying to decide whether it’s “a apple” or “an apple”, and whether it’s “a umbrella” or “an umbrella”. So here are some great ways of remembering which one to use.
There is one simple way of remembering this. When the word begins with a vowel sound (a,e,i,o,u) then you should use ‘an’ as it sounds better and feels easier to say.
When the word begins with a consonant you should use ‘a’. If you use words and phrases such as ‘ball’, ‘glass of water’ or ‘cup of coffee’, then it would be “a ball”, “a glass of water” and “a cup of coffee”.
A Or An Rule
However with this rule there is one exception. If you are using a word with a silent ‘h’ such as ‘honourable’ or ‘honest’ then you have to use ‘an’. Therefore it would be “an honourable man” and “an honest mistake”.
A Or An Before H
With words such as ‘umbrella’, ‘ice cream’ and ‘apple’ you have to use “an umbrella”, “an ice cream” and “an apple”.
Nbsp Character
Unfortunately there are some exceptions to this rule too. When ‘u’ makes the same sound as the ‘y’ in “you”, or ‘o’ makes the same sound as ‘w’ in “won” then you should use ‘a’. An example of this would be “a one-legged man” and “a European trip”.
A Or An Exercises
As long as you follow these methods of remembering it should be easy to know when to use ‘a’ or ‘an’.