RE: "a SQL sever" vs "an SQL server" Horses mouth...

["Rochelle McAndrews" <rmcandrews -at- csiu -dot- org>]

One more note on this topic?
A coworker found the following and it seems to apply directly to this
discussion:
>
>Katrina Del Vecchio wrote:
>Yeah, been through that before.  I'd go with the MCS style guide on this
one - horse's mouth & all.
...

"SQL Server
SQL Server is the name of the Microsoft product. At first mention and
occasionally thereafter within a document, use Microsoft SQL Server. When
referring to a computer running Microsoft SQL Server, use the SQL Server or
SQL Servers (note the capital S).

When referring to the product or the server running the product, SQL is
pronounced "sequel" and takes the article a when not preceded by Microsoft -
for example, "a SQL Server." When referring to the language SQL (SQL stands
for Structured Query Language), SQL is pronounced "es-cue-el" and takes the
article an - for example, "an SQL database."

Note It's acceptable to use the redundant term "SQL language" if necessary."
>

Odile Sullivan-Tarazi wrote:
So, you're saying that you would write (or say) "a HTML"?  And "a LED"?

You'd write . . . .

   a FDA ruling
   a HR rep
   a HHS employee
   a MRI
   a RMDBS
   a SNA


In each case, the opening word of the spelled-out phrase would be
preceded by "a": a hypertext, a light, a Federal, and so on.  But the
abbreviations in these examples are all pronounced as groups of
letters, which -- because of the nature of these particular opening
consonants (taking one article when pronounced as letters, another
when sounded as elements of a word) -- alters the phonetic
environment.  We pronounce "St." as "street" (or "saint," depending
upon context), but we do not pronounce "LED" as "light-emitting
diode."

See also _Chicago_ 5.73, 5.202, 7.46, 15.9.  Or _WIT_ 372.  Or _The
New York Library Writer's Guide to Style and Usage_ 188 and 328.  Or
_The Gregg Reference Manual_ 501b.  Or individual entries for
abbreviations in our own technical manuals (as in _RMF_ 12, in a
discussion of "SCSI," or 228, in a discussion of "URL").


Odile


At 5:01 PM -0400 9/22/05, Art Campbell wrote:
>I don't think so.
>
>When you read an address out loud, you don't pronounce St. as "sssst"
>or Rd. as "Rrrrd,"
>you say the word the abbreviation represents -- "street" or "road."
>
>And in this case, "represents" is the operative verb because abbreviations
and
>acronyms do, indeed, represent the root phrase or words. Therefore the
>article should
>agree with the root phrase or words.
>
>Art
>
>On 9/22/05, Odile Sullivan-Tarazi <odile -at- mindspring -dot- com> wrote:
>>
>>  The article must align with the abbreviated form, not the phrase the
>>  form stands in for, because the form of the article is determined by
>>  sound.
><snip>
>
>--
>Art Campbell
>art -dot- campbell -at- gmail -dot- com
>   "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent
>                and a redheaded girl." -- Richard Thompson
>                              No disclaimers apply.
>                                      DoD 358



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