English Grammar Help!?

Question

you say. '... at a University', yet AEIOU rules, imply that you should write '... at an University', so why do we use 'a'? Please excuse my possible grammar ignorance.

Answer 1

Even though it doesn't seem right, you should always us an before a word starting with a vowel.

Answer 2

I remember being taught that the article "a" is placed before a consonant and "an" before a vowel in the following noun. This does not always sound right - for example "an University". What should I do when an article does not sound right?
A better guideline is to put "a" before a consonant sound and "an" before a vowel sound. This practice exists because it is difficult to say two vowel sounds in a row: try "a eyeball" or "a altimeter". The "n" sound in "an" allows the mouth to move to the next sound more fluidly. The letter "u" can be pronounced in several ways, including "uh" and "you". The first pronunciation is a vowel sound and takes "an" ("an uncle"). The second is a consonant sound and takes "a" ("a university", "a ukelele"). As with many issues in writing and grammar, let your ear be your guide. |Make sure your teacher has same ear though for marking grades....

Answer 3

When the beginning of the word is a u and the u is pronounced with the short sound /u/ as in umbrella, you precede it with an instead of a. But if the u is pronounced with the long sound /u/ as in unicorn, it is preceded by the word a. A unicorn, a university, a universal delight, an utterly excellent question- which introduced me to a rule you just "know" without thinking. Thanks!

Answer 4

It has to do with how comfortable it is to speak "at a university" versus "at an university." Our mouths go with what is more comfortable and easier to say. It's like how we say "an hour" versus "a hour." All languages do this. :)

Karsten has a very good explanation for this as well. Because "university" sounds like it begins with a y, you would say "a university." Just like you would say "a unicorn." This also applies to "hour," which sounds like there is no consonant at the beginning.

Answer 5

I think this is beacause the word university, spoken, comes with a strong "yew..." opening sound which doesn't require the "nnn" of "an" to separate it from the article.

An unseen university, (as on Discworld)
does take "an" as the "nn..." opening sound is less awkward with the "nnn" in place.

Answer 6

You would say 'at a University' because University has a consanent sound. I mean that the first syllable of university sounds like a 'y' which is a consanent.

Answer 7

Use "an" in front of a vowel sound : An angry man.

Use "a" in front of a consonant sound. In the word "university" the "u" is pronounced "you" as if it began with "y"...a consonant. So you use "a".

The word "honor" for example starts with a consonant, but the "h" is silent, so the SOUND is a vowel, and we say "An honor".

Answer 8

It is because of the 'You' sound produced when saying it. I'm quite sure that the 'an' article only is needed when the U makes an 'uh' sound, and not the 'You' sound.

Answer 9

First, you would not say "at a Univeristy" that that, in itself is improper grammar.

When speaking on a specific university it would be "at the University", or when speaking of Universities in general it would be "at/in Universities".

Answer 10

it's because an is used before nouns that begin with a vovel phonetically !
here it looks like u in writting but this is

yuniversiti !