When to use 'a' & 'an'

Grammar
Cambridge: a university / an university?

You were probably taught at school ‘an’ should be followed by a vowel (a,e,i,o,u) and a should be followed by a
consonant:

an elephant
a car

Unfortunately, this is not always true!

When to use an or a depends on how the word is pronounced and not on how it is written.

The U in university is pronounced with a long ‘u’ sound which sounds like ‘yew’ and is written as j in the phonetic
alphabet. So, although the letter is a vowel, it is not pronounced like one in 'university' because it does not have a vowel
sound. We therefore say ‘a university’.

The U in umbrella is pronounced as a vowel sound ( Λ using the phonetic alphabet) and so we use ‘an’. We therefore say
‘an umbrella’.

This rule also applies to the use of consonants.

The word hour has a soft ‘h’ which is weakly pronounced and therefore we say ‘an hour’.

If the word has a hard ‘h’, like house, we use ‘a’ (a house).

Take a look at the following words and decide if they should have ‘a’ or ‘an’

1. A fly

2. An European

3. An house

4. An hour

5. A FBI Agent

6. A footballer

7. An honour

EXERCISES
I. Complete this shopping list with a/an.

1) An orange 6) A small melon

2) A bottle of wine 7) An hamburger
3) A carton of milk 8) A piece of ham
4) An ice-cream 9) A pizza
5) A banana 10) An apple

II. Complete with a/an.

1) An hour 9) A white egg

2) An ice-cream 10) An European country
3) A school uniform 11) An airport
4) An accident 12) An umbrella
5) An orange hat 13) A station
6) An egg 14) An English university
7) An house 15) A library
8) A green Apple
III. Complete the sentences with a/an.

Paul goes to university every day. In his backpack there is ..a... book, a pencil case,

An apple and an egg and a mayonnaise sandwich. Some days he also buys an icecream

for dessert.

Today he has an English exam. The exam is not very difficult. He writes a short story

about an adventurer. The story begins like this: “It is a special day for Oliver. At ten

o´clock in the morning he gets on a . plane. His destination is Australia...”

IV. Some of these phrases are wrong. Correct them.

a engineer an

a house an

a hour an

an orange book …………………………………………………

an expensive university ……………………………………..

an uniform ………………………………………………………….

Ex. V: Beginning

A, an, the, or nothing? Choose the most appropriate answer.

1. It is a book.
a
an
the
nothing

2. I bought an interesting book.

a
an
the
nothing

3. This is the book that you wanted.

a
an
the
nothing

4. I like to read the books.

a
an
the
nothing

5. Do you go to work by a bus?

a
an
the
nothing

6. Moscow is the largest city in Russia.

a
an
the
nothing

7. He is an engineer at a small company.

a
an
the
nothing

8. Do you have a computer?

a
an
the
nothing

9. He wrote a letter to his friend in Canada.

a
an
the
nothing

10. Open the door, please.

a
an
the
nothing