A or An?

A or An

Use a if the word begins with a consonant sound:

•A box

•A cat

•A university (the ‘u’ sounds like a ‘y’)

•A unicorn (the ‘u’ sounds like a ‘y’)

•A European trip (the ‘E’ sounds like a ‘y’)

•A Utopian idea (the ‘u’ sounds like a ‘y’)

Use an if the word begins with a vowel sound (a, e, i, o, u):

 

If the words starts with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u but SOUNDS like a ‘y’ then you DON’T need to put ‘an’

•An atom

•An entrance

•An ice cream cone

•An octopus

•An uncle

 

Be careful of letters that SOUND like vowels such as ‘h’ and ‘m’ which sounds like they begin with an ‘o’ or ‘e’ (see below for examples)

•An hour (the ‘h’ sounds like an ‘o’)

•An honourable man (the ‘h’ sounds like an ‘o’)

•An MBNA employee (the ‘m’ makes an ‘e’ sound)