A/an

[Benno]

I have a english grammar question

Which of the these sentences is correct

An open case - because the next letter in the sentence is a vowel

or is it

A open case - because the a/an depends on the noun and that starts with a consonant

Thanks


oh and I anticipate only serious answers

(... if that is possible in the lounge...)

[hooked]

an

[Skweeky]

An open case I think.

Sometimes you can have 'a' when the next word stars with a vowel though, but I can't think of an example right now.

[Evil Gemini]

Yep its An

[ang3968]

definitely an open case

[ilw]

For the sake of convenience, many teachers tell their students that the indefinite article a is used before consonants, while an is used before vowels. In most cases, this is true:

    * A cat
    * A dog
    * A house
    * A man
    * A woman



    * An apple
    * An elephant
    * An ice-cream
    * An orange
    * An umbrella

However, the choice between a and an actually depends on pronunciation, not spelling. Thus, a is used before a consonant sound, even if it is written as a vowel, and an is used before a vowel sound, even if it is written as a consonant:

    * A uniform
    * A one-sided game
    * An hour
    * An NCO

Some people say an, not a, before words beginning with h when the first syllable is not stressed:

    * An hotel (a hotel is more common)
    * An historical novel (a historical … is more common)

When an abbreviation takes an article, it depends on the pronunciation of the first letter of the abbreviation:

    * An NCO
    * A UN spokesman.

yep, an open case

[Benno]

Thanks all

[lynx]

It's glottal stop time again.

The whole point about saying an rather than a is to prevent the glottal stop which would otherwise occur.

The case of the letter h starting the next word is an interesting point. Using an does not particularly change the flow where the h is pronounced. But using a when the h is dropped again produces a glottal stop.

See here for more information.