palomablanca

Posted on 11/07/09

Thank you for your answer and for taking the time to look this up. I
think I have known about the rule for the letters when used on their own
like "A Y line". To me, an word, sounds really weird and it is probably
because not everybody says "an word", but "a word". (At least people that
I know) Do you agree?

"The "Word Book" dictionary has this comment: ".........Note that one's
choice is determined by the initial sound, not by the spelling. Usage
varies before words beginning with h in an unstressed syllable, like
historical or hotel, where, because the h is commonly silent or weakly
articulated, many use an. In Great Britain an is occassionally used
before united and euphonious, which begin with the sound of (y).

This reminds me a little of writing "el" before femenine words in
Spanish. El alma,(stress on al); el aguila,(written accent on the a); el
agua,(stress on a), el arpa, (stress on ar). Do you remember these?

Anyway, is too bad that I live so far from you, we could spend an
afternoon talking language. Thanks again.
On 11/07/09, Daniel Hanson (and /miz/ vs. /mis/) wrote:
> Paloma,
>
> I just found this at www (dot) dictionary (dot) com:
>
> "The names of the consonant letters f, h, l, m, n, r, s, and x are
> pronounced with a beginning vowel sound. When these letters are used
> as words or to form words, they are preceded by an: to rent an L-
> shaped studio; to fly an SST. The names of the vowel letter u and the
> semivowel letters w and y are pronounced with a beginning consonant
> sound. When used as words, they are preceded by a: a U-turn; The
> plumber installed a Y in the line."
>
> I never knew that and always wondered when to use "a" and when to
> use "an" with letter names, like when discussing a child's letter
> grade.
>
> (Pretty sad since I'm a native speaker, huh? I didn't learn the
> difference when saying these titles with women's last names: Ms.,
> Miss, and Mrs. As an elementary school student, I would always get
> them confused in my mind and no one really took the time to correct me
> or show me the difference orally, or was consistent about doing that
> anyway. I think when I hear /miz/, I think I'm in Georgia [that's how
> they pronounce "miss"; in California we just say /mis/] instead of
> California, although according to the dictionary, we should be
> saying /miz/ for Ms.)

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