The use of "a" or "an"


Off-Topic Discussions


As many people that post on this forum seem to struggle with the correct usage of "a" and "an" I thought I would clarify. I am seriously not trying to insult anyone in particular, but it does distract me from taking some posts seriously. While someone may be able to point out some variant rule of grammar... this is going to correct 99% of the mistakes.

As a hard and fast rule "a" proceeds a word that starts with a consonant.
" The previous poster just told a joke."

"An" proceeds a word that starts with a vowel.
" The previous poster just shared an anecdote."

That is all...thanks.


5 people marked this as a favorite.

I do have an problem with that.

Scarab Sages

Many of the problems arise from the writer being confused by silent consonants, such as the H in 'honour guard'.

Dark Archive

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"Precedes".

Liberty's Edge

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Griffin Rider wrote:
As a hard and fast rule "a" proceeds a word that starts with a consonant.

I'll be sure to remember that when referring to 'a NPC'.

Shadow Lodge

Paz wrote:
Griffin Rider wrote:
As a hard and fast rule "a" proceeds a word that starts with a consonant.
I'll be sure to remember that when referring to 'a NPC'.

Touché...

While we're at it, can we please stop saying/writing "an history"? Damn Brits...


Quote "As a hard and fast rule "a" proceeds a word that starts with a consonant."

It is more to do with the sound of the word - In Paz's example above, NPC sounds like eNPC so is preceded by "an" rather than "a"

Liberty's Edge

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Paz wrote:
Griffin Rider wrote:
As a hard and fast rule "a" proceeds a word that starts with a consonant.
I'll be sure to remember that when referring to 'a NPC'.

NPC isn't a word. Would you say "a non-player character" or "an non-player character"?

But snorter is correct, it isn't the actual letter that follows the "a" or "an" it is the sound that follows it.

And thank you to Grammar Nazi, threads criticizing grammar / spelling should have proper grammar and spelling.

Dark Archive

ArVagor wrote:
Paz wrote:
Griffin Rider wrote:
As a hard and fast rule "a" proceeds a word that starts with a consonant.
I'll be sure to remember that when referring to 'a NPC'.

Touché...

While we're at it, can we please stop saying/writing "an history"? Damn Brits...

"An history" is correct though. Both are "a history" and "an history" are technically correct.

Shadow Lodge

Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber

This is one of those rules that seems easier than it is, because the choice is based on pronunciation rather than spelling, and not all dialects of English pronounce words the same way. Not to mention that the term 'consonants' does not always refer to the same thing in different languages.

So just a few of the issues:

English does not consider a word that begins with a glottal stop as beginning with a consonant. Some varieties of English convert a leading 'h' to a glottal stop. Conversely some languages consider a glottal stop to be a consonant.

English considers a leading 'y' or 'w' to be a consonant, even if they don't appear in the spelling of the word. (For example: 'a unique example'). This pronunciation may vary between dialects. Conversely, some languages consider 'y' and 'w' to always be vowels, and so will analyze the pronunciation differently, even when those sounds are written out.

Someone already mentioned the problem with acronyms, which are sometimes spelled out and sometimes pronounced as new words, often with individual variation. (For example: SLAC is sometimes spelled out, and sometimes pronounced as 'slack')

PS Yes, I did take the troll way too seriously.

Grand Lodge

Clearly this is not a PFS General Discussion. This should really be in the (grammar) rules section!


Ah, but as this is RPGland, the rules are only guidelines anyway. GM fiat can overrule the specific grammar!


someone get me an rolled up newspaper...

Grand Lodge

BigNorseWolf wrote:
someone get me an rolled up newspaper...

I think, in this case, you might be better served with the water sprayer. And that, as long as you use water, won't lead to assault charges. Even if you can beat them. ;)


I stumbled over this recently. The subject was something like "a sports utility vehicle". That got shrunk to "a SUV", which is where I stumbled because I knew it should be "an SUV", but I couldn't remember why.

Because my pre-college education was as terrible as it was, this sort of thing which I should have learned in elementary school occasionally pops up and embarrasses me.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Griffin Rider wrote:

As many people that post on this forum seem to struggle with the correct usage of "a" and "an" I thought I would clarify. I am seriously not trying to insult anyone in particular, but it does distract me from taking some posts seriously. While someone may be able to point out some variant rule of grammar... this is going to correct 99% of the mistakes.

As a hard and fast rule "a" proceeds a word that starts with a consonant.
" The previous poster just told a joke."

"An" proceeds a word that starts with a vowel.
" The previous poster just shared an anecdote."

That is all...thanks.

Or overwhelmingly they're aware of the basic rule and are just typing fast and making sloppy mistakes.


Aww... I thought we were going to have a discussion on the meaning of "a" and "an."

Way back in the 3.5 days, I was arguing with some kids on the WoTC boards about Cleave and Great Cleave, and could not convince them that "a" and "an" meant "one" (a giant, an ogre), even when I linked them to Merriam-Webster.

How dare I take away their fifty-hits-in-a-round with proper definitions of indefinite articles?!

The Exchange

Mergy wrote:
ArVagor wrote:
Paz wrote:
Griffin Rider wrote:
As a hard and fast rule "a" proceeds a word that starts with a consonant.
I'll be sure to remember that when referring to 'a NPC'.

Touché...

While we're at it, can we please stop saying/writing "an history"? Damn Brits...

"An history" is correct though. Both are "a history" and "an history" are technically correct.

this is actually not true.

written a history, or a historic event is always correct. H is now a vowel sound.

SPOKEN An historic or an history CAN be correct if your accented speech patterns cause you to pronouce the "I" sound first.

an 'ISTORIC event can be correct when spoken that way, or when quoted (obviously) but it is never correct in written english. H is not a vowel sound.

though it is "considered" correct due to how commonplace the usage is. the majority of texts use the appropriate article usage because historic doesn't start with a vowel sound, unlike hour.

http://www.betterwritingskills.com/tip-w005.html

Sovereign Court

Benrislove wrote:
Mergy wrote:
ArVagor wrote:
Paz wrote:
Griffin Rider wrote:
As a hard and fast rule "a" proceeds a word that starts with a consonant.
I'll be sure to remember that when referring to 'a NPC'.

Touché...

While we're at it, can we please stop saying/writing "an history"? Damn Brits...

"An history" is correct though. Both are "a history" and "an history" are technically correct.

this is actually not true.

written a history, or a historic event is always correct. H is now a vowel sound.

SPOKEN An historic or an history CAN be correct if your accented speech patterns cause you to pronouce the "I" sound first.

an 'ISTORIC event can be correct when spoken that way, or when quoted (obviously) but it is never correct in written english. H is not a vowel sound.

though it is "considered" correct due to how commonplace the usage is. the majority of texts use the appropriate article usage because historic doesn't start with a vowel sound, unlike hour.

http://www.betterwritingskills.com/tip-w005.html

It's a hangover from a short period when upper-class Brits decided that affecting a French accent was the cool thing to do.

Silly that it remains in written usage, really.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Dotted.


BigNorseWolf wrote:
someone get me an rolled up newspaper...

Ask and it shall be given.


I'm still waiting for someone to demand we get a rules FAQ for this.


For the record, I've been here longer than that fake grammarian.

Dark Archive

Hmph.


Benrislove wrote:
Mergy wrote:
ArVagor wrote:
Paz wrote:
Griffin Rider wrote:
As a hard and fast rule "a" proceeds a word that starts with a consonant.
I'll be sure to remember that when referring to 'a NPC'.

Touché...

While we're at it, can we please stop saying/writing "an history"? Damn Brits...

"An history" is correct though. Both are "a history" and "an history" are technically correct.

this is actually not true.

written a history, or a historic event is always correct. H is now a vowel sound.

SPOKEN An historic or an history CAN be correct if your accented speech patterns cause you to pronouce the "I" sound first.

an 'ISTORIC event can be correct when spoken that way, or when quoted (obviously) but it is never correct in written english. H is not a vowel sound.

though it is "considered" correct due to how commonplace the usage is. the majority of texts use the appropriate article usage because historic doesn't start with a vowel sound, unlike hour.

http://www.betterwritingskills.com/tip-w005.html

I wonder if this issue is partly baggage because ancient Greek had rough breathing and smooth breathing for words which began with vowels. History, for example, which comes nearly unchanged from Greek, and hippos (horse) start with rough breathing iota in Greek, which we write as initial h, while words like icthus (ichthys, fish) have smooth breathing.


Benrislove wrote:
stuff

*blink*

Ben?
*waves*

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