To be grammatically correct, does one say 'a ewe' or 'an ewe'?

Question

Help would be appreciated, thank yewe

Answer 1

To be correct, one would say "a ewe." The use of "a" or "an" is determined not by the letter a word starts with but rather the sound it starts with. Because "ewe" is pronounced "yew" it is correct to say "a ewe." Conversely, you would say "an M&M" because the "M" is pronounced as if it were "em."

Answer 2

Yes, the rules apply in every case.

A or An.
Use an in place of a when it precedes a vowel sound, not just a vowel. That means it's "an honor" (the h is silent), but "a UFO" (because it's pronounced yoo eff oh). This confuses people most often with acronyms and other abbreviations: some people think it's wrong to use "an" in front of an abbreviation (like "MRI") because "an" can only go before vowels. Poppycock: the sound is what matters. It's "an MRI," assuming you pronounce it "em ar eye."

One tricky case comes up from time to time: is it "a historic occasion" or "an historic occasion"? Some speakers favor the latter — more British than American, but you'll find them in both places — using an on longish words (three or more syllables) beginning with H, where the first syllable isn't accented. They'd say, for instance, "a hístory textbook" but "an históric event." (Likewise "a hábit" but "an habítual offender," "a hýpothetical question" but "an hypóthesis.") Still, most guides prefer a before any H that's sounded: "a historic occasion," "a hysterical joke," "a habitual offender" — but "an honor" and "an hour" because those H's aren't sounded.

Answer 3

If you don't get a definitive answer here (I'm not totally sure there really is only one right answer to this) avoid the construction by using an indicative (the ewe or that ewe, etc) or use a number (one of the ewes) or put it into the plural (ewes) or use an adjective (a white ewe or an old ewe, etc.)

Answer 4

A ewe is correct, even though e is a vowel, we go by sound and here the e sounds like a y. Ewe is pronounced yoo.

The really odd one is an historical. We got that from the British, who have the habit of dropping the h and saying an 'istorical.

Answer 5

An ewe is grammatically correct. An goes before singular words that begin with a vowel. Hope this helps.

Answer 6

This is another example of the difference between what a word begins with and what it sounds like it begins with (like hour, except in reverse). What "ewe" actually begins with is "e" which is a vowel, so when writing, use "an". However, when you say "ewe", it sounds like "you", which begins with a consonant ("y"), so when speaking, use "a". (If you try saying "a ewe" and "an ewe", you'll probably find the former easier to say.)

Answer 7

Great question.

If I saw either "a ewe" or "an ewe" in print, I would immediately change my focus from the content of the sentence to its structure. To keep my reader from being thus distracted, I'd talk about "ewes" collectively, in the plural. If I needed to single one out, I'd say "the ewe".

Answer 8

A ewe

Answer 9

A ewe sounds proper but gramatically an ewe is correct.

Answer 10

a ewe
Not sure if it's technically a grammatical rule, or a phonetic one, but you use "an" when the next word starts with a vowel SOUND. "Ewe" starts with a y-sound. On the other hand you say "an hour" because "hour" starts with an o-sound.