How to use the English words a and an

Look at phonetic transcription, not just look at letters.

Generally speaking, the consonant starts with +a

+an at the beginning of a vowel

But there are special ones, such as hour, although it is a consonant at the beginning, but the phonetic transcription is ['au ] is the beginning of a vowel.

So use an hour

The vowel letter begins with an, the consonant is a, and the vowel is auioe

Look at phonetic transcription, not just look at letters.

Let's first take a look at the pronunciation rules of a and an: a is a vowel an is a consonant of a vowel After a vowel is used if there is no vowel An vowel is used if there is a vowel Vowel letters refer to the letters that play a vocal role in the language, which are vowel letters. Vowels, also known as "vowels", are commonly known in the Latin alphabet, and a, e, i, o, and u are usually vowel letters.

A consonant letter is an entry that is the opposite of a vowel letter, and all non-vowel letters are consonant letters.

The indefinite articles a and an are exactly the same in meaning and grammatical function, but the usage is different, a should be placed before a noun that begins with a consonant or its modifier, e.g., a man, a ball, while an should be placed before a noun or its modifier that begins with a vowel, e.g., an apple, an elephantBut what we call vowels does not refer to vowel letters but to pronunciation, so it is not too easy to distinguish between them, and some words are spelled with consonant letters, but the pronunciation of the front branch is a vowel, so it should be preceded by an an hour; Although some words are spelled with vowel letters, the pronunciation is consonant, and a such as a european; Some words start with a vowel letter, some are preceded by a, and some are preceded by an, depending on its pronunciation, such as an umbrella; a university.Therefore, when using the indefinite articles a and an, it is important to pay attention to the pronunciation of the words.

european:

Usage of an: If the following word starts with a vowel, use an. It is used to modify the singular number of countable nouns.

Usage of a: If the word that follows it begins with a consonant, use a. It is used to modify the singular number of countable nouns.

a English [ American [e ] artOne (one); each (each); Any (a) an English [ n] Mei [ n, n] artOne (one); One (in place of indefinite pronouns before vowel letters).

What is the difference between the usage of a and an:

1. A is used before the singular countable noun at the beginning of the consonant phoneme, such as a pen, a man, a ball, while an is used before the singular countable noun at the beginning of the vowel factor, such as an orange, an elephant.

2. However, although the first letter of some words starts with a vowel letter, its pronunciation does start with a consonant phoneme, and the article in front of such a word cannot be used an, and a is used, such as a university. Although "university" starts with u, its pronunciation begins with a consonant factor, so it should be preceded by the article a.

3. On the contrary, although the first letter of some words begins with a consonant letter, its pronunciation does start with a vowel phoneme. Although "hero" begins with a consonant letter, its pronunciation does begin with a vowel factor, saying that the preceding article should use an instead of a.

An is used before vowel phonemes. Generally speaking, vowel letters pronounce vowels and consonant letters pronounce consonants, but there are three things to keep in mind:

1. Spell words that begin with a consonant letter but are pronounced with a vowel.

For example, the spelling of words such as hour, honest, honor, etc., although it begins with the consonant letter h, its pronunciation begins with a vowel phoneme, so it should be preceded by an.

hour [ˈaʊə]honest [ˈnɪst]，honor [ˈnə]

2. Spell words that begin with vowel letters, but are pronounced with consonants.

For example, the spelling of words such as useful, university, european, one-eyed, etc., although they start with a vowel letter, their pronunciation begins with a consonant phoneme, so they should be preceded by a.

useful [ˈjuːsfl]，university [ˌjuːnɪˈvɜːsəti]，one-eyed [wʌn aɪd]

3. Among the 26 English letters, the pronunciation of the 12 letters a, e, i, o, f, h, l, m, n, r, s, x begins with vowel phonemes, and the pronunciation of the rest of the letters begins with consonant phonemes.

Error-prone instructions. Although the spelling of words such as hour, honest, and honor begins with the consonant letter h, its pronunciation begins with a vowel, so it should be preceded by an.

Conversely, if some words start with a vowel letter but are pronounced with a consonant, then they should be preceded by a instead of an, which are commonly known as useful, university, usual, european, united, one-eyed, one-way, etc.

In addition, for numbers, letters, and abbreviations formed by the first letter of a word, whether to use a or an before them also needs to be determined according to the pronunciation, such as:

he has an 11-year-old daughter.He has an 11-year-old daughter (from.

our daughter sent us an sos for some more money.Our daughter sent us a distress signal to ask for more money socks.

a is used before the word at the beginning of the consonant pronunciation, not before the consonant letter, e.g., a book; An is used before the word at the beginning of a vowel pronunciation, not before a vowel letter, e.g. an apple.

Special case: 1. Although some words start with vowel letters, they need to be modified with a:

Such as: in a university, a European united a one-eyed man to steal a useful thing, then ran away along a one-way road this is a usual thing.

At a university, a European, united with a one-eyed dragon, stole something useful and fled along a one-way street. It's a common thing.

2. Although some words start with consonant letters, the pronunciation begins with vowels, and these words can be connected into a sentence:

an hour ago, an honest man accepted an honorable task.

An hour ago, an honest man accepted an honorable task.