ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: "a" and "an"

nona the brit — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 08:37:36 GMT

I'm not surprised people find this confusing though. It must be awful if you are not sure how to pronounce such a word.

I can remember being taught the misleading rule 'a for consonants and an for vowels' at school but luckily as native speakers we'd already learnt the real rule before we had to start writing.

Re: "a" and "an"

Inchoateknowledge — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 08:31:05 GMT

I agree with Nona

unique starts with a consonant sound: junic

a junic
a unique

Re: "a" and "an"

Teo — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 08:27:44 GMT

We should say a university because university is pronounced as [yuniversity]. Similarly, we should say an hour because hour is pronounced as [our]. Unique is pronounced as [yunique].

Re: "a" and "an"

nona the brit — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 08:24:41 GMT

No, it is the 'sound' of the first letter that counts, not whether it is an actual vowel. Unique starts with a 'yoo' sound and that is a consonant, therefore it needs 'a' before it.

A unique.

A unicorn.

A unicycle.

An upper-cut

An underground passage

An udder.

Re: "a" and "an"

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 06:52:56 GMT

i think an unique is correct. because of 'u' is an vowel.we know that every vowel word is coming with an.

Re: "a" and "an"

Aperisic — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 14:54:47 GMT

Jazz_messenger wrote:
Hi,
Which would be correct usage :

1. A unique

2. An Unique

and why ?

Cheers !

an SS soldier (an es es... )
a usable tool ( a yuz... )
an upper place (an ap...)

a + consonant (the first sound in the word) = a + consonant
a + vowel (the first sound in the word) = a + n + vowel = an + vowel

Re: "a" and "an"

Mister Micawber — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 14:16:11 GMT

Hello Simm, and welcome to English Forums. I hope you will register as a member (it's free!) and join our discussions frequently.

The indefinite article (a, an) is determined by the first sound of the word, not the letter, so we have--

A unique experience ( /ju:nik/ )
An umbrella ( /umrela/
A haircut ( /heirkut/ )
An heir ( /eir/ )

etc.

I hope that helps.

Re: "a" and "an"

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 11:39:01 GMT

A pleasant to you! This is my very first time to enter in your website as what our English professor here in our hospital advised me.

I choose - A unique because in my whole life until today, I never met combination of An Unique words. Although unique starts with a vowel U but still it's awkward to say an unique. Maybe because of its usage or the way you will say makes "a unique" the one to be used all the times.

Thank you so much.

SIMM

Re: "a" and "an"

Mister Micawber — Wed, 10 May 2006 14:30:14 GMT

It is not the letter, it is the sound, Anon. Unique starts with a /ju:/ sound, so takes a. So also do a unicorn, a unicycle, a uterus, and a utensil.

Re: "a" and "an"

Anonymous — Wed, 10 May 2006 13:18:56 GMT

Hi,

An Unique is a correct answer. Because if any vowels comes you should select "an". Otherwise select "a".

Re: "a" and "an"

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 10:49:02 GMT

Ans is 2

because Unique starts with an Vowel

Re: "a" and "an"

MrPedantic — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 00:06:18 GMT

An ugly sister.

An untoward incident.

An unexpected consequence.

An unhappy compromise.

An utterly miserable existence.

An understandable decision.

An undignified exit down a drainpipe in the dead of night.

An unfortunate miscalculation.

An undertaker.

Re: "a" and "an"

Anonymous — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 19:23:27 GMT

I can only think of âum-brelâlaâ. There arenât too many word starting with a âUâ that requires an article âanâ.

But an âAâ is used for the following words: university, unicorn, union, unit and a âused carâetcâ¦â¦

Re: "a" and "an"

Mister Micawber — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 14:37:06 GMT

an umbrella
an umbilical cord
an undershirt
an upper class twit
an ultraviolet transmogrifier

Re: "a" and "an"

Anonymous — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 14:07:09 GMT

Hi,

Can you give me some cases of short "u" requiring "an" in front?