Using A vs. An
Just a heads up – this is probably one of the more grammar-nerdish chapters, so you may have to come back to it a few times. If it gets to be too much, just skip it. There’s lots more to learn.
You can sound like a 3-year-old and say, “I want a apple,” or you can learn the simple rule, which is:
The rule: If it comes before a word, acronym, or abbreviation that begins with a vowel sound, use an. Before a consonant sound, use a.
So, if you don’t want to sound like a 3-year-old, you’d say, “I want an apple.” But you could use a if you changed the sentence slightly, to “I want a f*cking apple.” You might get what you want either way, although I wouldn’t encourage teaching a 3-year-old to use the latter.
Before we continue, here’s a refresher on vowels and consonants for those who need it: vowels are a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y. Every other letter is a consonant.
The key is whether the word following a or an has a vowel or consonant sound. This gets a bit grammar-nerdish, but the examples below should help.
First, a brief explanation: Some words start with a consonant, but have a vowel sound, and some start with a vowel, but have a consonant sound. You have to ignore what the first letter is and listen to its sound. Use your best judgment, and in no time at all you’ll get the hang of identifying vowel sounds vs. consonant sounds. It’s easier than you think!
With that said, let’s have some fun. Here are examples of a and an, all taken from actual comments on political posts I saw on social media today (FYI… none of these was directed at me):
Examples: before words that start with a vowel and have a vowel sound:
The vowel sound requires an.
Example 1: “You’re an asshole.”
Example 2: “He’s an out-of-control idiot.”
Example 3: “You’re an anti-American regressive socialist.” (OMG… what an insult! I bet this person is a grammar nerd.)
Examples: before words that start with a consonant and have a consonant sound:
The consonant sound requires a.
Example 1: “He’s a loser.”
Example 2: “He’s a climate change denier.”
Example 3: “You have a small penis and should STFU!”
These are actual comments folks! I didn’t make them up. People say things online that they would never say face-to-face. What is this world coming to?
Examples: before words that start with a consonant but have a vowel sound (these are not actual comments from social media):
Both these examples use words that start with the (silent) consonant h and are pronounced using the vowel sound of the letter o.
Example 1: “Fred said, ‘It was an honor to win the farting contest with so many qualified participants entered!’ ” Use an because honor is pronounced with the vowel sound of the letter o, as in “on”.
Example 2: “His best one came an hour into the competition and caused all of the other participants to concede.” (After he cleaned up, he claimed the trophy.) Use an because hour is pronounced with the vowel sound of the letter o, as in “our.”
Examples: before words that start with a vowel but have a consonant sound:
Both of these examples use words that start with a vowel – u and o – but are pronounced using consonant sounds of the letters y and w.
Example 1: “He is a useless piece of shit!” Use a because useless is pronounced with the consonant sound of the letter y, as in “yoo.” (Also, I really never understood the point of this expression because isn’t every piece of shit useless?)
Example 2: “He told her it was a one-time lapse in judgment. She left him wondering when she responded with, ‘Well, now we’re even!’ ” Use a because one is pronounced with the consonant sound of the letter w, as in “won”.
Using a and an with acronyms
I’m including this because so many people sound like idiots when using acronyms, and I don’t want that to happen to you. For example, sports talk radio and TV people let acronyms fly off their tongue constantly. I cringe when one of them says (even years after it happened), “It’s a NFL rule and Brady got caught,” when they should say, “It’s an NFL rule, and Brady did nothing that other quarterbacks haven’t done for years.” The letter N is pronounced en, which starts with a vowel sound, so the correct word is an.
Speaking of rules, here’s the rule for using a and an with acronyms: When used at the beginning of an acronym these letters – all consonants – have vowel sounds because they’re pronounced as individual letters. Because they have vowel sounds, they’re preceded by an: F (eff), H (ach), L (el), M (em), N (en), R (arr), S (ess), and X (ex).
Examples: Using a and an with acronyms:
Here’s one set of examples:
- “He’s an NBA All Star.”
- “He got an STD after the game.”
- “Now he has an RX to hide from his wife.”
- “She knew better, and now he’s an”
And here’s another:
- “She has a BS in English and her starting salary as a teacher is $40K per year.”
- “Her friend has an EE degree and started at $80K per year.”
- “It doesn’t take a PhD to see that it’s a f*cking shame how teachers are so under-valued.”
Listening for the vowel sound might seem challenging at first, but before long it’ll become second nature… like riding a bike!
And that wraps up this chapter. Wasn’t it an interesting one? Now you have no excuse for sounding like a 3-year-old!
Excerpt from the book: Smarten the F*ck Up!
© Copyright 2023 Dave Bastien
Smarten the F*ck Up! uses plain English and humor to help people fix the common mistakes they’ve been making their entire lives.