In Consonants^x, Universities^x

Yes, Yankee's comments above pretty much speak for British English usage, as well as for American English. The initial u in the 'consonant' examples given by Yankee is invariably pronounced as yoo.As for British usage of 'An historic(al)', you will still occasionally find it,...

The use of 'a' or 'an' is based on pronunciation. If a word begins with a vowel sound, you should use 'an'. For example:- an apple- an elephant- an idea- an orange- an umbrella- an hour- an SOSIf a word begins with a consonant sound, you should use 'a'. This...

The letters W and Y are semi-vowels. Though they are consonants, at times they behave like vowels as their sounds in certain words change into vowel sounds.The word "European" starts with the vowel "E" but has the consonantal "yea" sound .. Hence "an...

Thank you Grammar Geek for your compliment, I am glad to be here with you sharing and learning. In fact I have also meant what you said. If the pronunciation starts with a consonant sound then it takes "a", as in "university". Besides, as in "hour", the pronunciation starts with a vowel, and it...

Thanks, anon. Without your post, I would have missed this thread. Goodman wrote:Hi CJ, What an impressive thread you have posted. You have slowly made me a fan of yours. Yep! CalifJim wrote: In any case, the struggle for the learner is always making the conversion from 'computing'...

Thenativespeaker wrote: I was told that I could only use "an" when the first alphabet of the successive word contained a, e, i, o, u But then why is it that for the word "university", it's "a university" and NOT "an university"? Can someone pls shed light on this? The same happens with...

You need to to consider whether it is a vowel or consonant sound that follows, not whether it is an actual vowel or consonant. University starts with the sound 'yoo' - a consonant sound. Therefore it takes 'a'. A university. A unique one. A universal part. An unusual one. An understudy. An...

General Canadian English is extremely similar to General American English. However, there are a number of differences between the two dialects. Firstly, GCE (General Canadian English) exhibits a linguistic phenomenon called Canadian Raising. Basically, the diphthong “ai”--as in "by" or "lie"--is...

A / AN Use 'a' with nouns starting with a consonant (letters that are not vowels), 'an' with nouns starting with a vowel (a,e,i,o,u) Examples: A boy An apple A...

William Strunk, Jr. (1869–1946). The Elements of Style. 1918. II. ELEMENTARY RULES OF USAGE Form the possessive singular of nouns with 's. Follow this rule whatever the final consonant. Thus write, Charles's friend Burns's poems the witch's malice ...