Using “a” and “an” Before Words Raphael asks: When should I use “a” and when should I use “an” before the different words? For example, should I say “a hour” or “an hour?” I stumble over this everytime and dont’t know if I’m getting it right, as

The original purpose of insurance was not to receive compensation in the event x happens. It was to ensure that any leins against whatever property x happened to were payable to the lein holders. For example, I have a car on which I owe $10K to

"Youse"? That's funny. It would sound like Brooklyn (NY) talk In that usage it would be pronounced "yooz" rather that "yoose", surely? I was commenting on the differing pronunciations of use/used. I understand.

Well, I went overboard again, but this one was rather fun. I would be willing to bet, Ching, that you know that occasionally, non-native speakers with a smattering of UK/US language skills do their best to advertise that fact to their advantage,

Oh, I got it too, I was just trying to see if there was an interesting discussion here. Counting wars seems to be a tricky business. I would actually have guessed that there were probably fewer wars in that fifty-year stretch than usual. But for

Well, OED have 'Euboa (now Evvoia)' In that case they're not just wrong, but perhaps even silly. The sample is too small for reasoned judgement, but that looks as though they haven't thought it through properly, which bodes ill in

} } } }> Bob is really nice though. } } } } Yeah, I know, Joey, but I'm afraid Bob is one of several } (many?) here who are very distrustful of me. I guess it } just can't be helped though, can it? I'm trying to put an English-usage

This supposed "Standard American English accent" sounds like a variation on the now rarely-used term "General American": From the dictionary at www.infoplease.com , which appears to be the *Random House Webster's Unabridged

I know I get a bit snotty sometimes (my poor ... (some dialectal use that is new to me?) by "kern". It's a jocular representation of a faux-palaeo-New York accent pronunciation of /oI/ as (R). "Kern" is "coin",

Redwine wrote about Nicene Creed and filioque: With: "We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, ... Lord" are they speaking about the Father or the Holy Ghost? Or does it vary by sect? or by century? Aha. When people