 Re: Indefinite Article 'a'
Yes, letters have nothing to do with it
It's a phonological rule and should read "a" is used before consonant sounds; "an" is used before vowel sounds.
Some words start their written form with a letter which is a consonant, but which is silent in the spoken form, so that the first sound is a vowel. Compare :
a horse /ə hɔ:s/ - /h/ is pronounced
and an hour /ən aʊwə/ - the letter "h" is silent
Similarly, the letter "u" may represent either the vowel /ʌ/ :
an umbrella : /ən ʌmbrelə/
or the consonant + vowel /ju:/ :
a university : /ə ju:nɪvɜ:sɪti:/
And of course, it's not just a matter of nouns. Any word following the article follows the same rules:
a man - an old man
a very old man - an extremely old man
a happy man - an honest man
a useful man - an unhappy man |