Timeline for Should individual letters be preceded with "an"?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
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| May 25, 2013 at 11:48 | comment | added | J.R.♦ | I'm not sure I'd call it "irrelevant" – I thought the phonetic spellings were helpful and a bit instructive in gaining a full understanding of when to use a or an in such cases. You could extend that – it's the same reason why we say "a zero, a one, but an eight." You and I are in hearty agreement on the main issue, I think. | |
| May 24, 2013 at 20:31 | comment | added | user230 | @J.R. Yes, that's right. That's why I said "begin with a vowel sound" and "do not [begin with a vowel sound]". Spelling is irrelevant. | |
| May 24, 2013 at 19:31 | comment | added | J.R.♦ | It's worth pointing out that several letters have phonetic spellings listed in the dictionary, such as ef, kay, wye, and zee. When spelled out that way, I think most letters would follow the "use an before a vowel" rule of thumb, including "an N" (en) and "an H" (aitch). We use the article that matches the phonetics. | |
| May 24, 2013 at 18:27 | history | answered | user230 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |