I have a question about grammar...?

Question

Ok here it is...
Do we say "A MP3 Player" or "AN MP3 Player"
i know "A" is politacally correct, but in society... we ust say an because it saounds natural. This also workd with herb
People say "AN herb" but it SHOULD be "A Herb"

If any of you forgot... it is AN if the next work begins with a vowel (a,e,i,o,u) and a is for every consenent.

Answer 1

It is not the literal vowel at the beginning, but the initial
vowel "sound" that determines if you use A or AN.

* Since the H is silent in Herb, it starts with a vowel "sound"
So you use "AN" before it.

* Since you are not saying "Mmmm" as in "Media player"
the first sound is not an M. You are calling out the letters,
which actually have spellings such as:
Em as the spelling for M
En as the spelling for N
Ar as the spelling for R
Since all these start with vowel sounds, when you pronounce
them as spelled out letters, you would say "AN" before them.

So you would say
"AN" M16 (Em-Sixteen) but "A" Missile
"AN" RV (Ar-Vee) but "A" Recreational Vehicle

The only exception I have seen, is that people pronounce the H in historic nowadays, but I still see "an historic" when the H is still considered silent.

Answer 2

Whether you use 'an' or 'a' before "MP3 player" is not a matter of political correctness!

But yes, it should be 'an' because you are saying 'em-pee-three'. If you were saying muputhree player, then it would be 'a'!

Same with 'an STD', and 'an NGO', because these sounds start with a vowel ('ess' and 'en'). If we were talking about a policy enacted by the government of British Columbia, however, we would say 'a BC govt. policy', because BC starts with the sound 'bee', which begins with a consonant.

YAY for sounds.

Oh, btw, one school of thought prescribes the use of 'an' before words starting with the letter 'h'. This is always the case when the 'h' is silent (e.g. 'an hour'), but for words such as 'hotel' it is okay to write 'an hotel' or 'a hotel' (maybe because some accents pronoune it "an 'otel"! (same with the word 'herb', which some people pronounce as "'erb").

Answer 3

You are pronouncing the name we give the letter M. That is pronounced "Em". So you would use "an". Also, when the letter H is followed by a vowel, it is appropriate to use "an". Examples: an hour, an herb, an hysterically funny event, and so on.

Edit to clarify:

"An hysterically funny joke" would be correct according to most traditional grammarians.

According to dictionary.com:

an
the form of a before an initial vowel sound (an arch; an honor) and sometimes, esp. in British English, before an initial unstressed syllable beginning with a silent or weakly pronounced h: an historian.

Answer 4

It is "AN MP3 Player"; and it's also "AN herb," since the "h" is usually not pronounced. However, should you choose to pronounce the "h," it would be "A herb." (Both pronunciations are in my dictionary, though "urb" is listed before "hurb.") It seems to me, though, that the "urb" pronunciation is preferable, since it avoids any confusion of the plant with the male name, Herb.

Added: When it comes to the letter "h" at the beginning of a word, the choice of "a" or "an" is solely based on whether or not the "h" is silent. With words such as "history," "humble," or "hysterically," "A" should always be used, (as in "a history," "a humble person," or "a hysterically funny joke"), because the "h" is voiced. With words like "hour," "honest" or "honor," "AN" is used (as in "an hour," "an honest person," or "an honor"), since the "h" is not voiced.

Answer 5

Because the SOUND of "M" starts with a vowel, you should always use "an" in front of "MP3 Player". With words starting with "H", you have to listen to them to hear if the "h" sound if firm or soft. In the case of "herb", the "h" is usually soft (we usually say "erb"), so you would use "an". In the case of "history", the "h" is usually firm, so you can use "a". However, some people will use "an" in front of "history". In general, your rule is correct except in the case of abbreviations where the sound of the first letter begins with a vowel sound.

Answer 6

AN. You should say AN when the next word sounds first with a vowel. Like the word unicycle. You don't say AN unicycle, because the sound is "you-ni-cycle." It's not a vowel sound. That's why words like hour and herb are preceeded by AN.

Answer 7

The pronunciation of the following word indicates whether we say a or an. With silent letters like the H in herb we use an. With words starting with M pronounced "em" we use an.

Answer 8

But the examples you cite, the words begin with a consonent but the first sound of the word resembles a vowel. Thus, the an.

Answer 9

An MP3 player; an orange; an apple; an ant; an orchid.

Answer 10

It's based on certain consonant sounds too like a fully pronounced M or silent h.