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Practise with a grammar game

use of a and an

pronunciation of the

For the sake of convenience, many teachers tell their students that the indefinite article a is used before consonants, while an is used before vowels. In most cases, this is true:

	A cat			An apple
	A dog			An elephant
	A house			An ice-cream
	A man			An orange
	A woman			An umbrella

However, the choice between a and an actually depends on pronunciation, not spelling. Thus, a is used before a consonant sound, even if it is written as a vowel, and an is used before a vowel sound, even if it is written as a consonant:

			A uniform
			A one-sided game
			An hour
			An NCO

Some people say an, not a, before words beginning with h when the first syllable is not stressed:

			An hotel (a hotel is more common)
			An historical novel (a historical … is more common)

When an abbreviation takes an article, it depends on the pronunciation of the first letter of the abbreviation:

			An NCO
			A UN spokesman.

For more information, and quizzes, on a and an, see the following web sites:

			http://www.andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/a.html#a
			http://www.rhlschool.com/eng2n26.htm

The information about a and an above is directly relevant to the pronunciation of the definite article, the.

This word has two pronunciations, depending on whether it comes before a consonant sound or a vowel sound.

The is pronounced  before a vowel sound, even if it is written as a consonant, and  before a consonant sound, even if it is written as a vowel:

			The () university is in the middle of town.
			The () one-way street near my house is closed.
			The () honest answer to your question is "No".
			The () FBI is investigating the case.

The same applies for abbreviations as for a and an (see above). Acronyms (words formed from the initial letters of a group of words), should be treated as words, and not abbreviations:

			the SALT treaties
			the RAM on my computer