Acronyms that begin with the sound of a consonant use A before the acronym. These are mostly all consonants, but there are also a few vowels included. Articles with acronyms, a or Finally, the rule also applies to acronyms. If you pronounce a letter like a letter and it begins with a vowel, you must precede it with one. Consonants with vowels include f, h, l, m, n, r, s, and x. The problem with a vs year with acronyms and abbreviations is that you can`t always be sure how the reader will read it. For example, some people may read SIN and say s-i-n, while others may say sin, and still others may say Social Security number. This means that it`s impossible to have a general rule, and so it makes sense to do so, but it makes sense to yourself (and be consistent), or, if possible, anything that makes sense to your audience. The general rule for indefinite articles is to use a front consonant and a front vowel. The trick here is to use your ears (as the acronym is pronounced), not your eyes (as it is written). However, if an acronym begins with a vowel, use one. The acronym STEM is pronounced as a single word.
Since it begins with a consonantal sound, one is needed instead of one. As @Vincent McNabb said, it`s about whether the word is used as an initialism (like HTML) or as an acronym. When in doubt, as with the FAQ, I would resort to the initialistic form („a FAQ“), as suggested in Wikipedia: If the acronym can be pronounced as a word, the first letter determines whether you use A or An before the acronym. H is just one of the few consonants in English whose names begin with vowels. Here are some other examples of acronyms you might stumble upon, depending on whether they`re spoken as words or as a series of letters. Hi, Damian. It depends on the abbreviation and what you mean by „read in long form“. Usually, habit (not author preference) determines how abbreviations and acronyms are read/pronounced by readers.
Let us take the example of NATO. It is an acronym – that is, it is always pronounced as if it were a word (nā-tō) and not as the individual letters: N-A-T-O. While you may be able to get readers to read it in its written form (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), you`d be hard-pressed to get them to read it in letter form by simply using „on“ instead of „a“: that is, most readers will simply see „a NATO coalition“ as a mistake, instead of reading it as „an N-A-T-O coalition.“ Since it is more common to use the sound of the first letter to determine A or An, we will discuss this with a brief example of the acronym as a word. The choice between an acronym before an acronym is determined by how the acronym sounds, not by its first letter. Scuba is now listed in most dictionaries as a name (lowercase) and not as an acronym. It is derived from an acronym, of course, but has evolved into a word in its own right (laser would be another example). For acronyms, which are abbreviations pronounced as words, be sure to follow the rule of use from a or on, depending on whether the acronym begins with a consonant or a vowel. The first letter of an acronym can be a vowel, but if it is pronounced with a consonantal sound, use one instead of an. If an acronym has more than one pronunciation, choose the one your target reader prefers.
If you`re not sure how your target reader pronounces a word, choose the first pronunciation listed in the dictionary. If the acronym begins with the sound of a vowel, use Before the acronym An. This can be difficult because words that begin with consonants can use An. The acronyms you mentioned both begin with vowels (/Éf.tiËeÉªÌ ̄/, /ÉfËsiË/), so one of them is used before them. There are also words and acronyms that begin with a vowel, but not with a vowel: a UAV (/ju.eÉªÌ ̄ËviË/), a union (/ËjuËnjÉn/). However, if the acronym is used as a modifier, it can be preceded by the specific or indefinite article: as a control, I also looked at two acronyms where the initial sound and initial letter are consonants. FAQ is an acronym, but is very often used as a name – „a list of frequently asked questions“. Although they are formed in the same way, acronyms and acronyms are pronounced differently. It does not matter if the article modifies an acronym, an acronym, a proper name, a French loan or anything else. The English form of the article is determined exclusively and completely by the pronunciation. And not at all by spelling.
In this article, we define an acronym and give you seven rules for using acronyms. Edit: I originally posted this answer to the question Is there an extraordinary use of the article âa/anâ? which was merged with it. The acronyms FTA and FC I refer to below come from this question. Use the article a before an acronym or abbreviation that begins with a consonantal sound and a before that begins with a vowel sound. Whether one or the other is used does not depend on how the abbreviation is written, but on how it is spoken or read aloud. If you need to use an indefinite article before an acronym or acronym, use the initial tone of the word (not necessarily the initial letter) to make your choice. If the indefinite article is used before an acronym, the choice of form (a or on) depends on the pronunciation, not the spelling; In other words, use A when the acronym begins with a consonantal sound, and an if when it begins with a vowel sound: Acronyms are tricky and it can be difficult to determine whether you should use an A or one before the acronym. Some examples of acronyms are HTML, NATO and EU. If used before an acronym, the rule is still valid, but the article to be used depends on how the acronym is pronounced (letter by letter or word). The decision to use A or An before an acronym can be made with the abbreviation or verbalized word. Use the abbreviation to determine which one to use looks more natural in your head and when it comes out of your mouth.
This is also the case if you pluralize acronyms. Knowing how acronyms are pronounced plays a role in whether you use A or A before.
