Article “a” or “an”?
Which sentences are correct?
- It’s an honor to meet you.
- I ordered pizza a hour ago.
- Today marks an historic event.
- I took a Uber to the theater.
- It was an unique experience.
- He sent out a SOS just in time.
- The sky was a orange color.
- I booked a one-way ticket.
The correct sentences are A and H.
Why?
The choice of article, “a” or “an,” depends on the initial sound of the word, not its spelling. A consonant sound calls for “a.” A vowel sound calls for “an.”
In sentences A and B, the “h” is silent in honor and hour, respectively, so the initial sound in each word is a vowel and these terms should be preceded by “an.”
In sentence C, the “h” is pronounced in historic, so the initial sound is a consonant and the term should be preceded by “a,” not “an.” This error is increasingly common.
In sentence D, the initial sound of Uber is the long vowel “oo.”
In sentence E, the initial sound of unique is the consonant “y.”
In sentence F, the initial sound of SOS is the the short vowel “eh.” The letters that start with a vowel sound include A, E, F, H, I, L, M, N, O, R, S, and X.
In sentence G, the initial sound of orange is the long vowel “oh.”
In sentence H, the initial sound of one is the consonant “w.”
Here are the correct sentences:
- It’s an honor to meet you.
- I ordered pizza an hour ago.
- Today marks a historic event.
- I took an Uber to the theater.
- It was a unique experience.
- He sent out an SOS just in time.
- The sky was an orange color.
- I booked a one-way ticket.
Pay attention to the initial sound, and you’ll know which article to use.
