From the course: Writing with Commonly Confused Words

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"A" or "an"?

"A" or "an"?

From the course: Writing with Commonly Confused Words

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"A" or "an"?

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- The rule for using a and an is more complicated than many people have been taught, because it's based on the first sound of the next word, not just the first letter of the next word. The actual rule is that you use a before words that start with a consonant sound and an before words that start with a vowel sound. A boy, an igloo. Because certain letters can make both vowel sounds and consonant sounds, they can be extra tricky. Consider the letter O. If you're writing about an ostrich, it makes an ah sound, a vowel. So it's an ostrich, but if you're writing about a one-way street, that O in one way makes a W sound, and that's a consonant sound. So it's a one way street. It's not the letter itself that tells you which word to use. It's the sound that letter is making in that specific word. It's the same for the letter U. You can say it's an unfair world, and you can hope that someone would create a utopia. U makes a…

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