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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 An appleHowever, 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 uniformSome people say an, not a, before words beginning with h when the first syllable is not stressed:
An hotel (a hotel is more common)When an abbreviation takes an article, it depends on the pronunciation of the first letter of the abbreviation:
An NCOFor more information, and quizzes, on a and an, see the following web sites:
http://www.andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/a.html#aThe information about a and an above is directly relevant to the pronunciation of the definite article, the.
This word has two pronunciations, depending on whether it comes before a consonant sound or a vowel sound.
The is pronounced before a vowel sound, even if it is written as a consonant, and before a consonant sound, even if it is written as a vowel:
The ( Consonant sound ) university is in the middle of town.The same applies for abbreviations as for a and an (see above). Acronyms (words formed from the initial letters of a group of words), should be treated as words, and not abbreviations:
the Consonant sound SALT treaties
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