Wednesday, December 21, 2005
A Unique or An Unique?
Just another note about the challenges of the English language. Why "a unique..." rather than "an unique..."? When a "u" word is pronounced as though it begins with a "y" (yoo nique), it's treated more like the consonant sound of the y. So, a university, an umbrella, a usual day, an unusual day.
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96 comments:
thank you very much mr. elf and google. I've been fretting over this for the past 97 seconds and, voila, its solved--at least you've convinced me.
this for such a short & simple snippet.
This is a unique post that is an unusually useful.
I was amazed to get an immediate response to the request "unique, a or an?" thanks for resolving a question that I have had for much longer than 97 seconds!
Thanks for ur help... This is a question that stumps many...
lol i was just wondering that too; thanks a lot! it prevented so much mental anguish haha.
Thank you! I was just writing a paper for my english class, and was unsure about this. =) not anymore!!!!!
Thank you Mr. Elf!
This was an useful posting!
:)
And that was certainly a unorthodox way of responding. ;-) Now stop it, or we'll confuse people!
@Matti
"This was an useful posting."
You are getting me confused again!
Nice! now I finally get it :D
thanks man
quite a unique way of answering that question
cheers
And another... big thank you!
I was writing a memo just now, I wrote "an unique" and I just stopped and looked at it and realized it was wrong. My whole world had been turned upside down. Then I found this explanation and all is right with the world.
Thank you Elf.
So glad that people are finding this helpful. I figured that if one person asked me then there must be lots of others who wondered about it.
Yes it is "a unique" just like it is "an hour"!
Damn! I didn't even know such a rule existed. Thanks a ton!
Thank goodness, problem solved. Thanks for the help!
I blew the first comment, here's the one that works:
Google is my friend, whoever is pointed at as the problem-solver by Google, my friend, is also my friend - especially if it actually resolves my issues.
Given the logic of the "Friend of a friend is also a friend" (resulting in a peculiar instance of a paradox, if 'friend of friend' = 'friend', how is 'friend of friend' not in the first given group 'friend'?) then you are indeed my friend. You solved my issue - and if this would've remained unsolved and typed in wrong - it would have had consequences, thank you for being so concise and brief!
Regards,
Molested
Designer
As the saying goes, a friend in need is a friend...in need. All depends on how you parse it.
-ellen
Thank you for this. Simple and direct. SCORE! I finally found an answer to this ridiculously simple question!
Cheers - saved me at least a few minutes of internal argument.
thanks mr. you are worthy to be no. 1 on google search with 'a unique' keyword :)
thanks you so much. i was writing an essay and had no idea
Wow, I wasn't sure what it was so I googled "a unique" and "an unique" separately to see which would bring up more results. Who knew that your post would be the first result to pop up.
Cool!
Wow, I typed an unique for an! essay and then Word grammar check said it was wrong. But I always thought that the rule was: an = when a word starts with a,e,i,o,u.
But then I figured, yeah it does sound strange. I googled your blog and it turned out that both grammar check and my feelings were correct. Thanks for explaining it!
Greetz from Holland
This is the one I wanted to know. My ploblem was solved. Thanks!
Thank you for your concise and informative information.
Thank so much for putting it accross so simple and convincingly.
Thanks; you've saved me countless hours of procrastination over this :)
"Blogger Surya said...
This is a unique post that is an unusually useful."
The correct is: This is a unique post that is unusually useful.
Don't use articles with adjectives and adverbs, please, just with nouns.
Thanks a lot!
what about before acronyms? would it be an or a (for example) MP3 ? or would it vary by sound?
Excellent follow-up question. It's based on the way the abbreviation is pronounced. So if you pronounce MP as "mip" it would be "a MP". If you pronounce MP as "em pee", it would be "an MP." (I don't know of anyone who pronounces that particular one--MP3--as "mip 3", but it was a good example for something that COULD be pronounced in two different ways.)
Short and precise.
Thank you.
Short and precise.
Thank you.
Straight and to the point. Thanks!
Surya: - "This is a unique post that is an unusually useful."
Brainorb: - The correct is: This is a unique post that is unusually useful.
This is a unique post that is an unusually useful one -- is also correct?
or
This is a unique post WHICH is an unusually useful one?
Muchas Gracias!!!
THAT or WHICH: Excellent question. So I just created a new post on that topic. Hope it's clear enough. Let me know if it makes sense or if you have other questions!
thanks xD
Thanks
Thanks
Thanks
thanks very much :-)
Cool! One more I`ve learned. Cheers!
interesting, I was intrigued by the ortographic correction suggested and decided to google it, didn't know about that one. Regards from Brazil.
True that. I was not sure either. "an unique" does not sound right
was confused with 'an' or 'a' unique, googled it, and here it is. thx a lot
This is fantastic info! Thanks!
so much praise!!!!!!!!!
Wish I could think of posts that are this useful all the time! :-)
tanks buabe
Thank you very much for the explanation!
Thanks ELF,
I just wanted to be clear on a unique or an unique...
You finally convinced me...
i can't believe that on my first google search for 'a unique' i found your page! Great tip - thank you.
I just got confused about this for like 20 seconds. Thank you
Thanks a lot! That helped!
nice post... u have no idea how usful this was
Thanx! I knew what sounded right but wasn't quite sure!
But what's interesting here is that a grammatical rule follows phonetics and common usage rather than grammatical formalism. This makes it seem slippery and vague to me——a commendation for the dictum: "if it sounds right, then use it."——but then I suppose common usage is behind most of our grammatical rules (which would make them not rules at all, but rather constantly evolving rules of thumb.)
Jeff, this is no different from how one refers to acronyms/abbreviations. For example, "an HTML document" vs "a HTML document." If we pronounced it "HITmil," for example, it would be "a HTML document," but we don't, we pronounce it "aitch tee em ell," so its initial component is a vowel sound "ai...", hence "an HTML doc." Neither of these are inconsistent for the rules of the rest of our language: Words that start with a vowel sound (anteater, emu, impala, octopus, undergarment) take "an" and those that start with a consonant sound (begonia, carnival, unit, etc.) take "a". I don't think anyone would argue that it should be "an unit."
I *would* argue that we have at any time a set of valid grammar rules. But, yes, they evolve, just like traffic laws have evolved to encompass the way we drive. The fact that they evolve with usage doesn't make them merely "guidelines" instead of "laws."
And, I should add, these rules are no different from what is seen in some other languages--the correct form is based on the sound of the following word. For example, in french, le or la become l' before vowel sounds.
I did know that it was 'a unique' but wanted to know why as I needed to convince someone :-). Your post solved the problem. Thanks for the explanation. It must feel great to see that a post in 2005 is still being referred in 2010. Kudos to you!
From India
The writer of wordwhirled.blogspot.com has written a superior article. I got your point and there is nothing to argue about. It is like the following universal truth that you can not disagree with: There is no greater personal triumph than filling your tank with more litres of fuel than you have ever achieved before. I will be back.
Thanks for your explaination
Thank you! I have a book report due tomorrow and I was completely at a loss!
thank you
Thanks a lot for this information. I really got benefit of it.
yhx :)
very clear
Habeis puesto tanto gracias que no se sabe cual es la respuesta, pesados! ¬¬
haha, you have no idea how long I've been wondering this...
five years later and still useful! Thanks!
Thank you, I should have known this, but being that is late and I've been working on a Biology paper for the past six hours or so I'm starting to lose my mind...Hence my rambling.
Thanks for clearing up this little dilemma.
Great article post.Thanks for sharing this nice informative material.Word Whirled is a good post for post.Keep sharing articles like these.
I appreciate your way of expressing feeling and technical aspects through words.Great article post.
Sometimes it amazes me how after 28 years of speaking this language I always seem to find something new. Thanks for the help!
This is brilliant, thanks from Paris
Jean
helps quite a but. I never knew that
nice explanation... I never really thought of this before.
chances
Excellent explanation. Thank you very much!
It is funny how when you write or speak "a unique" vs. "an unique" it is fairly instinctual to know which one is correct. But being a person who always seeks out understanding, I am elated to find a great explanation. Thank you Mr. Elf. Now I'm off to explore why it is "an hour" and not "a hour". - LOL
"An hour" not "a hour"--because once again it starts with a vowel sound ("hour" starting sound is the same as "our" or "ow"). Hence, an hour.
Greetings,
I have a inquiry for the webmaster/admin here at www.blogger.com.
May I use some of the information from your post above if I give a link back to your site?
Thanks,
Peter
I'm responsible for wordwhirled.blogspot.com, not the whole www.blogger.com. Yes you may use some of this if you point back to here.
thanks, this is very helpful
merci beacoup
a votre service!
Thanks for the nice note, "generic viagra", but I've removed your post because your "user name" link seems to be a way to get people to go to your web site.
Sorry, folks, I'm turning off comments on this post; I have to clear spam almost daily now.
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