On 11/06/21 8:17 am, Isaac Morland wrote:
On Thu, 10 Jun 2021 at 16:11, Gavin Flower
<gavinflo...@archidevsys.co.nz <mailto:gavinflo...@archidevsys.co.nz>>
wrote:
On 11/06/21 2:48 am, Isaac Morland wrote:
> “A MIT …”? As far as I know it is pronounced M - I - T, which would
> imply that it should use “an”. The following page seems
believable and
> is pretty unequivocal on the issue:
>
> https://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/como_se_dice/
<https://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/como_se_dice/>
> <https://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/como_se_dice/
<https://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/como_se_dice/>>
>
The rule is, in English, is that if the word sounds like it starts
with
a vowel then use 'an' rather than 'a'. Though some people think that
the rule only applies to words beginning with a vowel, which is a
misunderstanding.
So 'an SQL' and 'an MIT' are correct. IMHO
Right, spelling is irrelevant, it's about whether the word begins with
a vowel *sound*. Or so I've always understood and I'm pretty sure if
you listen to what people actually say that's what you'll generally
hear. So "A uranium mine" not "An uranium mine" since "uranium" begins
with a "y-" sound just like "yesterday". The fact that "u" is a vowel
is irrelevant. But then there is "an historic occasion" so go figure.
The 'h' in 'historic' is silent, at least it used to be -- I think now
it is almost silent. So using 'an historic occasion' is correct.
