Actually its not that is sounds bad, it's that it is harder to say.... ...or maybe it does sound bad * because * it is harder to say. If you feel the position of your mouth during the transition between the A or AN and the following acronym (try A then AN with each acronym) , you will know what I mean. --- James Newton (PICList Admin #3) mailto:jamesnewton@piclist.com 1-619-652-0593 PIC/PICList FAQ: http://www.piclist.com or .org -----Original Message----- From: pic microcontroller discussion list [mailto:PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU]On Behalf Of Brandon Fosdick Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2001 13:12 To: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU Subject: Re: [OT]: "a/an" in English Dave Bell wrote: > > Matt Bennett wrote: > > >"Alexandre Domingos F. Souza" wrote: > > >> in a 8052 (another good question: In english, when you use the "a" > >>before a number as it were consonant, or "an" as if it were a vowel?) > > >Oh, and about the a/an thing- it all depends on what the initial *sound* > >is- if it is a vowel sound like 8502- 'an' is more proper, but a > >consonant *sound* like 7400 would take an 'a'. > > Yes, the fact that the word following the article is a number has no > bearing. As in Matt's example, 8/eight takes 'an', and 7/seven takes 'a'. > Where it gets less clear is in American vs. British English, and leading > 'H' may get dropped. In American, we would usually say "a hat", rather > than "an 'at"! > For acronyms you're "supposed" to always use 'an', but nobody actually does since it sounds bad for some acronyms. "A NASA report" vs. "An NASA report" "An NFL playoff game" "An NBA star" "A JPL sponsored project" "An IRS audit" "A UNAV3200 autopilot" (which, BTW, uses a PIC for servo control) "A PWM generator" "An A/D Converter" "A PIC microprocessor" -- http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! email listserv@mitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body -- http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! email listserv@mitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body