• ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    The rule I’ve always used is that if the first letter of the word immediately following it is a vowel, it’s “an” and if it isn’t use “a”.

    For example, “an apple” or “a potato”. If there is an adjective, go by that first letter, for example “a large apple” or “an average potato”.

    • TheGenuineGT@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      For anyone scrolling, I’ve followed a similar rule. Except an is used anytime the following word makes a phonetic vowel sound. E.g ah, eh, ee, oh, ooh

        • Jännät@sopuli.xyz
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          39 minutes ago

          Fun English facts: “apron” used to be “napron”, but “a napron” was eventually incorrectly split into “an apron”. Same with “adder” which used to be “naddre”, and “umpire” which was “noumpere”