| “h” words with stress on 2nd syllable |
Often use “an” in British English; American may use “a” |
an historic event (BrE) / a historic event (AmE) |
| “h” words where ‘h’ is pronounced |
Use “a” |
a hotel, a house, a hospital, a hero |
| Unique vowel sounds |
Follow the sound |
a one-rupee coin, a once-in-a-lifetime chance |
| With “unique”, “unanimous” |
Use “a” (consonant /juː/ sound) |
a unique idea, a unanimous decision |
| With “MBA”, “MNC” |
Use “an” (vowel sound /ɛm/) |
an MBA degree, an MNC company |
| With “European”, “eulogy”, “eucalyptus” |
Use “a” (consonant /j/ sound) |
a European country, a eulogy, a eucalyptus tree |
| With “x” as in “xylophone” |
“xylophone” starts with consonant sound /z/ → “a” |
a xylophone |
| With abbreviations like “SOS”, “VIP” |
“S” /ɛs/ vowel → an SOS; “V” /viː/ vowel → a VIP (vowel sound? Actually “V” /viː/ is vowel, so “a VIP”? Wait, “V” is a consonant letter but pronounced with vowel sound, so should be “a VIP”? Let’s clarify: “VIP” pronounced as letters: V /viː/ vowel, I /aɪ/ vowel, P /piː/ vowel; so it starts with vowel sound, thus “a VIP”? Actually typical usage: “a VIP” because “V” is considered a consonant sound in some contexts? This is tricky. Better: follow sound: “V” pronounced /viː/ begins with vowel /v/? Actually /v/ is consonant; the sound is “v” which is consonant, so “a VIP” is correct. So careful: it’s the first sound of the acronym when spoken as letters, not the letter name. “VIP” spoken as letters: “vee” starts with consonant /v/, so “a VIP”. Similarly, “a UN official” because “U” pronounced /juː/ consonant sound. We’ll show examples.) |
a VIP, a UN official, an SOS (S /ɛs/ vowel), an MRI (M /ɛm/ vowel) |
Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.
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