A or AN?

A or AN? - Articles in English

When do you use a? When do you use an? Go get a piece of paper and a pen; I’ll be waiting for you when you get back. In your piece of paper, make a table that looks like this. And these words, put them where you think they should be. Should it be, a, this or an, this? I’ll give you one minute, go. You think an, this? Are you sure it’s not a? I really think it’s that one. You’re probably wrong. Fifteen seconds. Okay, let’s check your answers. Maybe you saw this and thought, what? That’s easy. Because, you learnt that “an” is for words beginning with vowels and “a” is for words beginning with consonants. Let’s start here, umbrella starts with a vowel you put “an”, right? An umbrella? That makes sense.

Okay, well, university, that starts with the same letter so that goes here, right? No, it goes over here. What the hell, right? It starts with a u, same as umbrella. But, listen carefully. You say University. U, not anniversity, a university. So yes, it starts with a vowel but not a vowel sound and that’s the difference. U, university, it starts with a y sound, which is, a consonant.

Okay, moving on hotel. It’s got a h sound, a consonant sound. That’s fine, a hotel. But in hour, we don’t pronounce the h in hour. It’s not hower, it’s hour. It sounds like an “a” sound, an hour. Got the idea?

Okay, last one, orange, an orange? That makes sense. It’s normal. And one-way. Ah be careful, maybe you want to change your answer now. One, one, on,e wah-wah-wah-wah. It starts with a “w”, a “w” sound, which is a consonant. A one-way street. So just remember, it’s not if the word begins with a vowel, it’s if it begins with a vowel sound. Ah, see in the next class, bye.