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A or AN |
The 'standard' rule regarding which of these to use is this"
"A" goes before all words that begin with consonants. "An" goes before all words that begin with vowels. But as you might guess, there are exceptions.
- If the next word has an unsounded 'h' (honest mistake), use 'an' (an honest mistake.)
- When a 'u' makes the same sound as a 'y' the way it does in 'you' (united front), use 'a' (a united front)
- When 'o' makes the same sound as a 'w' the way it does in 'won' (one-armed bandit) use 'a' (a one-armed bandit).
The tricky part of all of this is to recognize that the article used is based on the sound of the first letter in a word, not on the written representation of the letter. From a phonetic perspective, there aren't any exceptions. If the first letter makes a vowel-type sound, you use 'an'; if the first letter makes a consonant-type sound, you use 'a.'
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