Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is lesson 20. Yeah today we're going to go
over when to use a or an before words. Okay and here's my title, easy think again.
Yeah most people would automatically assume that this is this is simple and I
think the problem comes in that we've all been taught, we always hear the rule
use up for a consonant and use an before a vowel. It seems so simple and you know all
my life we always thought this is actually the rule. Until one day I
realized and looked it up. That's actually not the rule. And one of the reasons I
did is because even as a teacher there would be many examples where you would
have a before a consonant word and somebody would say why are we using 'a'
before this word. like for example like a university or why don't we say an
university. University begins with a 'U' we should be using an. At first of
course i just thought it was an exception because you know English has a
lot of rules and English has a lot of exceptions to a lot of rules. So that's
not actually surprising to think that. Until i actually did look up the rule
and the rule is not a before a consonant and an before a vowel.
The rule is use "a' before a consonant sound. That's a big difference and use
'an' before words that have a vowel sound. So it's not just the whether it's a
consonant or whether it's a vowel is whether it's a consonant sound or a
vowel sound because sometimes these words even though it may look like a vowel and
has a consonant sound and vice versa. All right so let's look at let's review
first of course very simply. Let's just review vowels.
Everybody knows whatever is written here is not a consonant.
So a , e, I ,o , u and sometimes y. and that's another thing every time you
always hear that rule you always say sometimes y. What's that about
sometimes. All right so let me just kind of get that out of the way before we
move on. Y as a vowel is most noticeable in words that don't have an
a ,e ,i, o, , u. Some examples include why WHY so obviously why is the vowel in
this word. Fly , obviously there are no other vowels, so it has to be a vowel in
those words. hymn, gym. Those are again good examples.
All right let's note this other part. Most of the time when Y begins a word it has
a consonant sound. It t has like a ya ya sort of a sound that that's a
consonant sound. That's not a vowel sound and more often has a vowel sound in the
middle or the end of the word. Okay now now that we got that out of the way. Let's take a
look at some of the examples. All right so examples of 'a' before a
consonant sound. All right the first row is the normal ones. The ones that we
don't even have to question. like a bar a coward, a hero. Okay
all of those begin with consonants and they do have consonant sounds. So no
problem All right here's where we do come in with
a problem just like I said the example before like a university. Here you have a
union, the same thing. See that 'a' and it begins with U but really the the Union
doesn't really have a vowel sound it has more like that it has like a Y
consonant sound. a 'u' union. a united front, a universal health care plan. So it has it
has more of a Y sound than a consonant. So that's why we're using an 'a'
and not an' an'. Yeah like I said you know when students ask me why don't we say an university.
I try to think 'an university an university that's definitely wrong. it's a university. So let's look at a
look at some of the words that begin with Y just in case somebody was
still confused about Y. We say a yoga mat, a yogurt, a YMCA.
Well obviously here it begins with the you know a Y and it does have the Y sound. So
it's yoga yogurts are definitely use an 'a' YMCA. Actually here Y as a letter
actually it's more like a W sound, but that's also a consonant sound. So we say a YMCA.
A one-man operation All right well a one, one actually has
more of a W sound, W is a consonant sound , so we use ' a ' we don't say an one man. an one hundred dollar bill. We don't say that. A $100 bill. a one man, a one of a kind, the same thing. So
the one beginning with one actually has a more of a W sound.
A 'W" so therefore it's a continent. So therefore just takes an 'a.' All right.
Examples of an before a vowel sound. Okay the first row is again your typical ones
you know 'an' before a vowel and it's a vowel sound so an ant, an Indian and
easy one. All right .Those are the normal ones ones we wouldn't even question. All right, especially watch abbreviations.
Abbreviation where the letter ends up having a vowel sound. So we say an MA like
she earned an MA. M as a letter really has the vowel sound it has more of an
E M sound which is em. That's actually a vowel sound. So we say an MA and in the an NBA
player. Okay also n it is like an en sound an N an H also having an
HMO. So again, pay
attention to to to abbreviations. Now some abbreviations do of course have the
normal consonant sound. Yeah we might say WHO or something like that.
Obviously that has a consonant sound. All right, words that begin with a silent H. This is
another one to pay careful attention to. an hour or an hour glass so the H is
silent. So the first the first vowel sound is actually an O. So you know we
often think of , you know H as a consonant. So why don't we say" a" hourglass. We
actually say an hourglass because again the H is silent here. An honor yes we
don't say 'a' honor. We say an honor because the H is silent. An honest mistake.
Again H is silent, so be very careful. So be careful of silent H's. Most of the time,
the next letter will be like a vowel sound. Therefore you use an 'an' be
careful of abbreviations with letters that end up having a vowel sounds. With
the first letter, the first letter of the abbreviation has a vowel sound then you
have to use an 'an'. Okay and getting back to the consonant sounds, be careful with
words as we get with a U and I. Like a union or you know a university. Actually, it
has more of a Y sound. So that's why we can say 'a' with that. Or one again
has a W sound. So again that's those are the ones to really watch out for. Okay,
Well I hope I hope that clarifies it. If you ever came across these issues if you
ever came across these problems, This is the answer to them.
Thank you very much. Bye.