One such rule is the one concerning whether to use a or an as an indefinite article (“the word a or an used in English to refer to a person or thing that is not identified or specified”). Some people feel strongly that words like 'historic' and 'historical' should be preceded by 'an', not 'a'.

The spoken sound for ‘S’ is ‘ess’, so because it starts with a vowel, use ‘an’ in speech. ‘An S’. Similarly, ‘an’ is used for F, H, L, M, N, R and X in speech. ‘A U’ is correct, though…. since U is pronounced yoo.

Use "an" before a word or an abbreviation that starts with a vowel sound. If it does not start with a vowel sound, use "a." The key word here is sound. It is not a question of whether the word or abbreviation starts with a vowel. It is a question of whether it starts with a vowel sound. Look at these examples with abbreviations: A FROG missile

Normally, we pronounce consonant letters with a consonant sound, and vowel letters with a vowel sound. But there are some exceptions. The rule about a or an is still the same. You just need to think about the SOUND, not the WRITING. Look at these examples: vowel LETTER but consonant SOUND. a Eu ropean country.

You can tell when to use an instead of a if the next sound is a vowel sound. A misunderstanding of the rule is that you need to pay attention to the actual letter of the next word. In reality, it’s the sound of the word that you should follow when deciding to use a or an.

These nouns become plural by changing their spelling, sometimes becoming quite different words. You may find it helpful to write out the entire irregular plural noun before adding an apostrophe or an apostrophe + s. Incorrect: two childrens’ hats The plural is children, not childrens. Correct: two children’s hats (children + apostrophe + s)

12/12/2011 · firstly - where the word we are adding the apostrophe too is a special word to describe a collection of things. These words don't have an S on the end to make them plurals. Example here is people (one people is a collection of many persons) so here there is only one group - the people - and put the ' before the S.