An vs A

[TooNice]

The general rule is "An" if the next word starts with a vowel and "A" if the following word starts with a consonant. But there are exceptions, and I do not know all of them.

Here's one that always bother me when writing a personal statement: is it 'an' MSc or 'a' MSc? MS Word suggests an 'an', and it sounds better to me too.

And the one I am stuck on right now is an "L" shaped building or a "L" shaped building? Once again, Word and I favours the 'an', but I'd like to take opinions on this.

[TeePee]

A 'Master of Science' or An 'Em Ess See'

An 'Ell- shaped building'.

You have to think about what is being pronounced.

[finlay666]

i believe it is because as a single letter it is pronounced 'el' however if it was A lumpy shaped building as opposed to an 'el'/L shaped building

That is how I understand it anyway

Not sure how Y or N works, presumably the same


edit: damn beaten by a minute!

[directhex]

generally "an" is also allowed for abbreviated words which phonetically start with a vowel (e.g. "emessee" for "MSc"), as well as vowel-started words.

taking "L" as a single-letter abbreviated word phonetically said as "ell", an seems correct

[Clunk]

Posh people - An Hotel.
Mancunians An Otel.

[TeePee]

That would be 'A Hotel' or 'An Ostel, for t'yoofs, like'

[Clunk]

Aint dat de truf

[TooNice]

Thanks for confirming that
My intuition was right, though I don't recall ever being taught the phonetic rules.

[EvilMunky]

Aye its all about phonetics - which - im sure has been pointed out - is a silly way to spell that word - with its meaning in mind.