Timeline for "An (obvious) problem" or "a (obvious) problem"?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
7 events
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| Sep 24, 2015 at 14:03 | comment | added | gnasher729 | The rule is definitely "A or An depends on the next spoken word". If Maulik reads this sentence has "A problem!" and omits the "obvious" then A is correct. I myself would read it aloud as "An obvious problem" with "An". | |
| Sep 24, 2015 at 13:10 | comment | added | mafu | I'm confused, this answer is completely opposite to what I learned in school and later. I learned that the writing of a/an always follows the pronunciation of the (in whatever way) successive word, it is not distinct. | |
| Sep 24, 2015 at 10:43 | history | edited | Maulik V | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 109 characters in body
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| Sep 24, 2015 at 10:36 | comment | added | Maulik V | @DavidRicherby how do we decide 'a/an'? It's in reading i.e. pronunciation. Reading or internal reading, as I said in my last sentence, it's 'an obvious problem' | |
| Sep 24, 2015 at 10:29 | comment | added | David Richerby | I disagree. You seem to be asserting that the word in parentheses somehow doesn't exist except when the word is read out loud but I don't see any basis for making that claim. And what about internal speech? How is the reader supposed to know whether they feel that the word "obvious" is important enough to read, without actually reading it? | |
| Sep 24, 2015 at 9:05 | history | edited | Maulik V | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 134 characters in body
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| Sep 24, 2015 at 8:55 | history | answered | Maulik V | CC BY-SA 3.0 |