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Subject:"A or An" before acronyms or abbreviations From:Janice Gelb <janiceg -at- marvin -dot- eng -dot- sun -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 1 Aug 2001 12:07:16 -0700 (PDT)
*sheesh* Can we just please settle this once and for
all instead of having separate questions about whether
a or an should be used before FAQ, or before URL, or
before whatever next week's acronym or abbreviation
is going to be?
Here's the rule -- establish some pronunciation in
the document itself. (NOTE: No one is ever going to
agree on which pronunciation is most common so which
one you choose is immaterial.) For example:
"The Frequently Asked Questions list, or FAQ
(pronounced "fack"), provides..."
Then use the appropriate article for that pronunciation
from that point forward.
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