When to Say "a" or "an"
The indefinite article is a or an. But how do we know when to say a and when to say an?
The rule is really very simple. It depends on the sound at the start of the following word. (It does not depend on the way we write the following word, it depends on the way we say it.)
A + consonant sound
If the following word starts with a consonant sound, then we say a.
a cat
a game of golf
a human emotion
a Peruvian
a very fat woman
AN + vowel sound
If the following word starts with a vowel sound, then we say an.
an apple
an extremely easy job
an interesting film
an old man
an umbrella
The importance of sound
Normally, we pronounce consonant letters with a consonant sound, and vowel letters with a vowel sound. But there are some exceptions. The rule about a or an is still the same. You just need to think about the sound, not the writing. Look at these examples:
consonant letter with vowel sound
an honest man on-est
an hour our
an FBI agent eff-bee-eye
vowel letter with consonant sound
a European country you-ro-pe-an
a one-day conference won-day
a university you-ni-ver-si-ty
its a fact that 99% of people that correct grammer and spelling on forum posts or twitter is AN ........
its better to be thought of as AN ....., AN ......., A ...... then to speak or in this case type and remove all doubt.
