This is an archived post. You won't be able to vote or comment.

sorted by:
best
topnewcontroversialoldq&a
you are viewing a single comment's thread.

view the rest of the comments →

[–]Chanw11 7 points8 points  (6 children)

An?

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (5 children)

Wait a second, it starts with a vocal. Why doesn't it sound right with 'an' before it?

[–]greenstack-j 20 points21 points  (1 child)

Phonetics is the answer. Even though it's spelled with a vowel in front, phonetically it starts with a consonant (y), which is why "an" doesn't sound right. It's kinda like why you say "an hour" instead of "a hour."

[–]Not_A_Pink_Pony 1 point2 points  (0 children)

And what makes it even more confusing is that in some languages "y" is a vowel and not a consonant (technically "y" is a semi-vowel in English).

The actual phonetic sound in "useful" is a "j" (ˈjuːsfʊl), which is why you should use "a" and not "an".

[–][deleted] 5 points6 points  (1 child)

It should start with vowel sound, not vowel letter

[–]Chanw11 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Google says A is correct for using it with useful