YSK: Use ‘a’ when the word starts with a consonant sound, and ‘an’ when it starts with a vowel sound
YSK: Use ‘a’ when the word starts with a consonant sound, and ‘an’ when it starts with a vowel sound
Why you should know: The ‘a’ vs ‘an’ conundrum is not about what letter actually begins the word, but instead about how the sound of the word starts.
For example, the ‘h’ in ‘hour’ is silent, so you would say ‘an hour’ and not ‘a hour’. A trickier example is Ukraine: because the ‘U’ is pronounced as ‘You’, and in this case the ‘y’ is a consonant, you would say “a Ukraine” and not “an Ukraine”.
Tip: when in doubt, sound it out(loud).
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Really, we're covering basic grammar now?
not everyone (thankfully) are american or british.
True, but this is really basic stuff. I think I learned this for English as 2nd language in primary school. We trust that people here know English well enough to understand the server rules, why then assume they don't know basic grammar?
What makes this different from SVO word order? YSK how to use participles? Did you know about the order of adjective (That one is actually pretty interesting, but i's not basic grammar so it gets to pass). At some point it is ridiculous to try to teach some grammar rules of English in English, and I believe this is well past that point. Even if one doesn't speak the language naturally or have a formal education in it.
Yep, including me.
You know there are english speaking folks outside of the US/UK.
Mindblowing, I know.Only when it's needed.
With literacy rates in America "hold my beer" low and getting lower, maybe there's a need.
Example: if people pluralize "email" different from "mail", they may need to review.
I like how you tried to be a grammar snob and couldn't even get your example right.
What's wrong in the example?
Edit: oh
Still can’t get things like contractions, apostrophes, too/to, “should of” sorted out. Still plenty of need for reminders.
I appreciate the tips. Even if they're grammar related. I need all the help I can get 😮💨