Olympus-OM
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: [OM] English usage clarification

Subject: Re: [OM] English usage clarification
From: Chuck Norcutt <chucknorcutt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 07 Jul 2010 10:28:34 -0400
It's the sound that's important rather than strictly using a vowel as 
the determinant.  This is a pair of related extracts from the Wiki page 
regarding a and an.

"The choice of "a" or "an" is determined by phonetic rules rather than 
by spelling convention. "An" is employed in speech to remove the awkward 
glottal stop (momentary silent pause) that is otherwise required between 
"a" and a following word."

"Further, some words starting with vowels may have a preceding a because 
they are pronounced as if beginning with an initial consonant. "Ewe" and 
"user" have a preceding a because they are pronounced with an initial y 
consonant sound. "One-armed bandit" also has a preceding a because it is 
pronounced with an initial w consonant sound."

Chuck Norcutt


Wayne Harridge wrote:
> I just read this:
> 
> "...the parking lot, is an unique observation tower with..."
> 
> I'm wondering if "an unique" is correct, doesn't sound right to me, "an
> excellent" works, but "a unique" seems correct.
> 
> I always thought the rule was "an" before a word starting with a vowel, but
> what about "an unique" ?
> 
> ...Wayne
> 
> Wayne Harridge
> http://lrh.structuregraphs.com/
> 
> 
-- 
_________________________________________________________________
Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Sponsored by Tako
Impressum | Datenschutz