A grammer question dealing with a or an.....?

Question

How come when u say unicorn or eunuch you say "a unicorn" or "a eunuch" instead of saying "an" like we do with every other word that starts with a vowel? I know that it doesn't sound right... saying "an unicorn" or "an eunuch" so I guess I'm not really asking a question... just kinda throwing this fact out there. Let me know what you think... : )

Answer 1

The practice of using the article "an" before certain words that begin with vowel sounds dates far back in the history of the English language.

With certain nouns that began with an "n," English speakers found it easier to pronounce the "n" with the article, rather than with the noun. While this was the origin of "an," the practice spread to words that had no "n" at their start, but had an open vowel sound. That's why many people say "an hour," for example.

So the rule for when to use "a" versus "an" is not determined simply by whether a word begins with a vowel, but by whether it feels more natural to use one or the other.

So one says "a unicorn" or "a eunuch" because the hard "u" sound is more naturally preceded by "a' than by "an." You are essentially correct when you say that "an unicorn" simply "doesn't sound right."

It's a process paralleled today in the phrase "a whole nother." There's really no such word as "nother," but the contraction "another" (an+other) is being treated as if it were "a nother," leaving a space (a hole you might say) for the word "whole."

It's what keeps the language interesting.

Answer 2

The article "a" is used before a word beginning with a consonant; i.e., A book, A hat, A door, etc. "An" is used with words that begin with a vowel, such as, An apple, An author, An elephant, etc. You are correct in that assumption. However, when a word begins with a vowel, but has a consonant sound, you would use "A". The words, "eunuch" and unicorn have a "Y" sound, which is a consonant sound. Therefore, you would use "A" instead of "An". I hope this is helpful to you.

Answer 3

even though these words start with vowels, the use of 'a' or 'an' before a word depends more on the presence of a vowel sound than a vowel letter. unicorn starts with a 'u' but the sound at the beginning of the word is the 'yuh' kind of sound, like the letter 'y'. even though 'y' can sometimes be considered a vowel, that only applies to a few rare cases. in this case, 'y' is a consonant, so words beginning with a 'y' sound are preceded by 'a' and not 'an'.

Answer 4

I think it just has to do with the type of vowel ie: long or short
So in unicorn it's the long vowel so you would say A, whereas with Umbrella, it's a short vowel so you use AN

Answer 5

I never knew that we used "an" in front of a word that starts with a vowel. I actually saw a (and i think it's) Eunich riding a Unicorn. A big fight ensued and a bouncer broke it up. Can you end a sentence with a preposition? they were all girls fighting..should I have stopped it?

Answer 6

use "an" when the following word starts with a vowel sound.