Kilyin;3250621 said:
You're obviously not an English major, because you're absolutely wrong. Whether to use an or a is also determined by how you pronounce the following word. Since we're talking abbreviations, would you say 'a FBI agent' or 'an FBI agent'? The correct answer is an FBI agent.
If you're going to nitpick grammar, do your homework first.
Oh this is just too rich.
To answer your silly question, I would use neither. The only proper article to use with your example (in the written form) is "the".
Having said that, why should I take the time to explain the exception to the rule with regard to choosing the correct indefinite article(s) in a sentence?
I was simply pointing out a mistake he continued to make in both of his replies (do you see redundancy in that, CC?). It was an obvious mistake and I was only trying to help.
Anyway, since you want to have a "go" with me. Let's dance, shall we?
These are the rules regarding how to use the indefinite articles:
"A" goes before all words that begin with consonants.
a cat
a dog
a purple onion
a buffalo
a big apple
With
one exception: Use
"an" before
unsounded h.
an honorable peace
an honest error
"
An"
goes before all words that begin with vowels:
an apricot
an egg
an Indian
an orbit
an uprising
With
two exceptions: When "u" makes the same sound as the "y" in you, or "o" makes the same sound as "w" in won, then a is used.
a union
a united front
a unicorn
a used napkin
a U.S. ship
a one-legged man
Note: The choice of article is actually based upon the phonetic (sound) quality of the first letter in a word,
not on the orthographic (written) representation of the letter. If the first letter makes a vowel-type sound, you use "an"; if the first letter would make a consonant-type sound, you use "a." So, if you consider the rule from a phonetic perspective, there aren't any exceptions. Since the 'h' hasn't any phonetic representation, no audible sound, in the first exception, the sound that follows the article is a vowel; consequently, 'an' is used. In the second exception, the word-initial 'y' sound (unicorn) is actually a glide [j] phonetically, which has consonantal properties; consequently, it is treated as a consonant, requiring 'a'.
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/591/01/
Now, Whinestein, I want you to show me where my example given to CC is incorrect and how your example is the correct form in the written letter. Granted, it's used phonetically in speech all the time but that doesn't make it right. The reason why we 'say' "an" before FBI is because the letter "F" makes an 'efff' sound phonetically speaking. My English Prof would eat your lunch, however, if you wrote "an" to the acronym or abbreviation form that begins with a consonant (e.g. an FBI). But we're talking semantics here or actually we're writing semantics. English profs all over this country have their silly little quirks, but one thing they would all agree on is "
A SB" and not "
An SB".
Have the last word (if you like), I'm leaving now to go hang out with a couple of fellow Green Berets so we can drink beer and make fun of pencil necks that teach silly English rules on a football forum.
