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The Unique Uses of "A" and "And"

This post is about one of the latest grammatical nuisances that has come up in my life. When people have been talking to me lately, they have not been using two of everyone's favorite indefinite articles. I know this is pretty nerdy, but I fell the need to correctly inform you about this topic.

Let's start with the definitions

A: indefinite article that indicates that there is one of something
An: indefinite article that indicates that there is one of something


You may have noticed that these two definitions are identical. In fact, I knew they were identical, so I copied and pasted it to save time. :)

"Abby, how do I know which one to use?"

Great question made up inquisitive person!

Use "a" before a noun that begins with a consonant sound.
For example:

A book         A pencil        A dog

A yo-yo        A wonderful teacher     A friend



Use "an" before a noun that begins with a vowel sound.
For example:

An apple      An amazing vacation    An eyeball

An interesting blog post  An interview   An amendment



"But Abby, what about words like "unique"? Nobody says, "an unique experience, but it starts with a vowel!"

Wow made up inquisitive person! You have really good questions!

Now, I'd like you to look back at the two words that I have highlighted, underlined, wrote in bold, AND italicized. You wold use an if the word begins with a vowel sound, and unique begins with a letter that is a vowel. The sound that starts the word unique is the "y" sound. Y is usually a consonant, and in this case, it is. So, this word begins in a consonant sound, therefore you can use "a".


Thanks for reading this post! If you have any questions about this topic, or questions in general, please comment them. Also please, please comment what else you want to see on this page. Next up is probably going to be a brussels sprouts post on this page, but I won't make any promises. :)
             








COMING SOON:

• Can Pigeons Read?
• Mandela Effect
• Zimmerman Telegram Conspiracy Theory
• WHAT?!?! BRUSSELS SPROUTS?!?!