An EU issue or a EU issue?
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- george_bass
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An EU issue or a EU issue?
I share with you this embarrassing question. Which of the following phrases is correct, and why?
This is an EU issue.
This is a EU issue.
Thank you for your help.
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I agree.Blythe wrote:The answer is "an EU issue". The rule is "a" before a consonant sound and "an" before a vowel sound. E, pronounced "ee" with a long vowel sound, would have "an" before it. You're welcome.
- LivreAmour217
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vowel sounds go with an not a ( Vowels are the letters A, E, I, O, U).
an apple.
not a apple
- BoyLazy
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Well saidBlythe wrote:The answer is "an EU issue". The rule is "a" before a consonant sound and "an" before a vowel sound. E, pronounced "ee" with a long vowel sound, would have "an" before it. You're welcome.
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- Rosemary Wright
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A trickier example: an STD, as it starts with a consonant but has a vowel sound.
I think we all agree on this one: an hour.
But what about this one? A hotel or an hotel.
I've seen it both ways, as some people pronounce hotel as "otel", hence "an hotel".
- DustinPBrown
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You see a similar thing when people say, "an historical event" even though historical obviously begins with an H sound. Some things are older than we know, and some of them have always been just fads.ilovebooks2 wrote: ↑13 Jan 2018, 16:46 I think the EU example is pretty clear, as it starts with a vowel and has a vowel sound.
A trickier example: an STD, as it starts with a consonant but has a vowel sound.
I think we all agree on this one: an hour.
But what about this one? A hotel or an hotel.
I've seen it both ways, as some people pronounce hotel as "otel", hence "an hotel".
- ayoomisope
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What's the right thing then, "a historical event" or "an historical event" or both? Just as you said, I've seen both.DustinPBrown wrote: ↑14 Feb 2018, 09:43You see a similar thing when people say, "an historical event" even though historical obviously begins with an H sound. Some things are older than we know, and some of them have always been just fads.ilovebooks2 wrote: ↑13 Jan 2018, 16:46 I think the EU example is pretty clear, as it starts with a vowel and has a vowel sound.
A trickier example: an STD, as it starts with a consonant but has a vowel sound.
I think we all agree on this one: an hour.
But what about this one? A hotel or an hotel.
I've seen it both ways, as some people pronounce hotel as "otel", hence "an hotel".
― Charles William Eliot
- ayoomisope
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― Charles William Eliot
- DustinPBrown
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From what I know, they're both correct, just depends on your dialect, the context, how formal you wanna be, stuff like that I'd imagine. It's English, we've got ten different ways to say just about every word.ayoomisope wrote: ↑17 Feb 2018, 10:12What's the right thing then, "a historical event" or "an historical event" or both? Just as you said, I've seen both.DustinPBrown wrote: ↑14 Feb 2018, 09:43You see a similar thing when people say, "an historical event" even though historical obviously begins with an H sound. Some things are older than we know, and some of them have always been just fads.ilovebooks2 wrote: ↑13 Jan 2018, 16:46 I think the EU example is pretty clear, as it starts with a vowel and has a vowel sound.
A trickier example: an STD, as it starts with a consonant but has a vowel sound.
I think we all agree on this one: an hour.
But what about this one? A hotel or an hotel.
I've seen it both ways, as some people pronounce hotel as "otel", hence "an hotel".
- Helen_Combe
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The ‘a’ / ‘an’ usage is there to stop two hard vowel sounds clashing together. For example, ‘a ant’ grates, but ‘an ant’ flows.
However, there are exceptions Although ‘universe’ starts with a ‘u’, it sounds like it starts with a ‘y’ so does not need ‘an’ to make it flow as it’s not a vowel sound, phonetically it is ‘a yuniverse’
Similarly for words the begin with ‘h’ where the ‘h’ is not pronounced.
‘Herb is pronounced ‘urb’ In the ‘US’ and ‘herb’ in the UK.
So the US pronunciation needs ‘an’ to stop ‘a’ and ‘u’ grating, but the UK pronunciation does not need the ‘an’ as the ‘a’ and ‘h’ sounds flow together.
Hope that makes sense.