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

It has always been my understanding, that "the" should be pronounced with a LONG E before a vowel and a SHORT E before a consonant . However, lately, I hear only the short sound used. This applies to new broadcasters and others who do

I'm going to pass on the "should" question. My instinct tells me it could be ambiguous, because "should" has several uses. If you use "should" in the sense of "ought to," then it would be redundant.

This debate really seems to be about two different things, spelling and pronunciation. The letter w (and y) is often used with other vowels (and sometimes alone as well) in spelling to reperesent a vowel sound . In the words hi and by , the letter

Hi friends, In this link: http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/about.html you will see there are 15 vowels in American English. In this link: http://www.ic.arizona.edu/~lsp/IPA/SSAE.html you will see there are 12 vowels in Standard American

I stopped reading Katherine Kerr when the same mistake was perpetuated in her 3rd or 4th book: she gave 'thin' ... of an o - I like to call it a smiley - so %u means a smiley over the u. That diacritic is called a "breve" in

I have come to the sudden realization that I don't ... and I can't say (wVjr). -Aaron J. Dinkin Dr. Whom I pronounce them all in the same way. But I have heard others pronounce them differently, as you say. Fi-uhr, with a schwa. But no one

I wonder if there are any speakers of a variety ... the "Ef" pronunciation. Is he from Scotland or somewhere nearthere? I don't know, but I still want to know what that ferocious-sounding interjection is that all the MPs utter

I wonder if there are any speakers of a variety of BrE who has created an initialism for the phenom ... in London). It was the Speaker who consistently used the "Ef" pronunciation. Is he from Scotland or somewhere near there? I don't

I wonder whether he's a BrE, say, who is hearing some particular American accent's /E/ realization as an /i/. PIPs, for example, will say "semi" in a way that might sound like "simmy" or "simm-eye" to PINPs. I