a/an

[Andrew Warren]

Zen C wrote:

> Can someone let me know what the proper use of 'a' and 'an' is.
> 
> Is it Gmail is a user-friendly application or is it Gmail is an
> user-friendly document? I am confused after someone pointed it out to
> me. I would think it is a user friendly.  
> 
> Do you consider the vowel here?

Zen:

It's "an" before a vowel sound, "a" before a non-vowel sound... So your
instinct is correct: It's "a user-friendly application", because the "u"
in "user" is pronounced "you".

If the "u" were pronounced differently, the article would be different:
"An usher-friendly application".

Also "a uniformed person", but "an uninformed person".  And "a NASA
spacecraft" because "NASA" is pronounced as a word, but "an NRA member"
because "NRA" is pronounced "Enn Are Ay".

-Andrew

=== Andrew Warren  - awarren at synaptics.com
=== Synaptics, Inc - Santa Clara, CA