Do i use "An" or A"

@Frank Apisa,

Frank Apisa wrote:

oristarA wrote:
You said Contrex's answer is wrong, but actually his answer is right.

His answer is not right.

My answer is not only not right, it is misleading and was hasty and ill-thought-out. Nothing to do here but 'fess up and face the music.

1 Reply

@contrex,

contrex wrote:

Frank Apisa wrote:
oristarA wrote:
You said Contrex's answer is wrong, but actually his answer is right.

His answer is not right.

My answer is not only not right, it is misleading and was hasty and ill-thought-out. Nothing to do here but 'fess up and face the music.

Thank you, Contrex. That was a classy move...and it makes you a classy person in my eyes.

1 Reply

@Frank Apisa,

I'm now going to take Contrex down an pub.

2 Replies

@oristarA,

oristarA wrote:

Pearlylustre wrote:

Persons like me?? You mean a person who is fluent in English? What kind of person exactly do you think I am, oristarA? (No one else need answer!)

You've had too much thoughts in your mind.
You said Contrex's answer is wrong, but actually his answer is right.

As Contrex has graciously admitted himself, his answer was wrong. You would be wise not to argue the point with native speakers because, as Set already said, you risk making a fool of yourself. The fact that your first post in this thread is almost incomprehensible is evidence that you're not an expert in the English language. I am not an expert on all the finer points of English grammar either but I taught English in Japan for nearly ten years and know how to teach the difference between 'a' and 'an'. Contrex may not have had to think it through before and it was an easy mistake to make.

1 Reply

@Lordyaswas,

Lordyaswas wrote:

I'm now going to take Contrex down an pub.

I'm thinking of dinner...Nancy gets home in a couple of hours...and the thing that was going through my mind was: I'd sell my soul for a decent batch of fish and chips. The crap they sell here in the states under the name "fish and chips" absolutely sucks.

They've got 'em everywhere...and all of 'em suck!

But we are dealing with a major ice storm today...and I'm gonna make do with what I have in the house..

0 Replies

@Lordyaswas,

Lordyaswas wrote:

I'm now going to take Contrex down an pub.

What about afterwards... ?

1 Reply

Of course, language changes over time . . . "My brother Esau is an hairy man . . ."

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@contrex,

"What about afterwards... ?"

We'll go on to a oarhouse.

1 Reply

@Lordyaswas,

I'm assuming you like boating?

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@Pearlylustre,

Pearlylustre wrote:

oristarA wrote:

Pearlylustre wrote:

Persons like me?? You mean a person who is fluent in English? What kind of person exactly do you think I am, oristarA? (No one else need answer!)

You've had too much thoughts in your mind.
You said Contrex's answer is wrong, but actually his answer is right.

As Contrex has graciously admitted himself, his answer was wrong. You would be wise not to argue the point with native speakers because, as Set already said, you risk making a fool of yourself. The fact that your first post in this thread is almost incomprehensible is evidence that you're not an expert in the English language. I am not an expert on all the finer points of English grammar either but I taught English in Japan for nearly ten years and know how to teach the difference between 'a' and 'an'. Contrex may not have had to think it through before and it was an easy mistake to make.

I appreciate Contrex's straightforwardness, so you're okay here. But you've risked making yourself a fool by following Setanta's idiotic habit of setting up straw-man: he pretended that he could read into my mind by saying I pretended to be an expert in English, which I did not.

Commenting on other people's posts is just a way of learning English, not a way of pretending to be an expert. Wink

PS. Being incomprehensible in one or two posts cannot be counted as evidence whatsoever. Contrex made a mistake in his answer does not mean he doesn't know how to teach - Rather, he's a very good English teacher here! Being hasty often ruins anything, including making your comment incomprehensible.

1 Reply

@oristarA,

Quote:

But you've risked making yourself a fool by following Setanta's idiotic habit of setting up straw-man: he pretended that he could read into my mind by saying I pretended to be an expert in English, which I did not.

Set wasn't setting up a strawman - he was giving the correct answer to the OP's question. And you did 'pretend to be an expert' when you disagreed with three of us without giving any evidence as to why we were wrong. That's not a learning experience that's just arrogant. If I'm making a fool of myself it's by bothering to respond.
I wasn't saying that Contrex isn't a good teacher. I was just suggesting that a/an is question that he hadn't had to consider before. I certainly hadn't before I had to teach it in a classroom. No one is criticising Contrex; quite the opposite.

2 Replies

@Pearlylustre,

Arrogant. I can't think of a better word.

0 Replies

@Neos,

Quote:

(a or an) Aston Martin Vantage Convertible

Where to a Porsche on the blame and who gives an F, I mean a F.

1 Reply

0 Replies

@nacredambition,

Always let me take the blame Nacred.
I'm generally a nice person (quite often) but I have my limits. Persons like me indeed. It's lucky I'm mellowing in my old age.

0 Replies

@Pearlylustre,

Pearlylustre wrote:

Quote:
But you've risked making yourself a fool by following Setanta's idiotic habit of setting up straw-man: he pretended that he could read into my mind by saying I pretended to be an expert in English, which I did not.

Set wasn't setting up a strawman - he was giving the correct answer to the OP's question. And you did 'pretend to be an expert' when you disagreed with three of us without giving any evidence as to why we were wrong. That's not a learning experience that's just arrogant. If I'm making a fool of myself it's by bothering to respond.
I wasn't saying that Contrex isn't a good teacher. I was just suggesting that a/an is question that he hadn't had to consider before. I certainly hadn't before I had to teach it in a classroom. No one is criticising Contrex; quite the opposite.

Are you telling us that you know Setanta very well? That old dog even thinks that his English is better than Thomas Jefferson, the chief drafter of the Declaration of Independence! He used to pretend to be a superexpert in English: there was once he confidently bombarded the writing of an American professor (who's a native English speaker) as very bad English written by a non-native English speaker). This tells us: the closer you've come to Setanta, the more likely you would become a moron.

2 Replies

@oristarA,

OristarA, I remember seeing your threads many moons ago, when you were beginning to learn English and you were polite, positive and courteous.

It seems now that you have the basics of English under your belt, you are seemingly confident enough to belittle and insult people here, even though they are right and you are wrong, which shows you up as an arrogant fool.

I believe that we have taught a non English troll how to be a troll in English.

I'll now put you on ignore as you have turned out to be a big disappointment.

What is it they say? No good turn goes unpunished?

Bye bye.

0 Replies

@Setanta,

Quote:

"An" is used before words which begin with a vowel sound. "...This is a useful tool. In that case, "useful" starts with the sound of a "y,"

Sounds like a "u" to me, for some reason.

Is there some distinction between "hard" and "soft" vowel/consonant sounds?

I once asked an English Prof. about "rules" of the English language. He said:

"There ain't no rules."

2 Replies

@oristarA,

Your reply doesn't really make any sense and Lordy's response is perfect. Bye from me also.

1 Reply

@layman,

While on the topic of rules as they apply to articles, let me ask another question about something that has always confused me:

Is the word "another" the same as "an other?" If so, is there some rule governing the practice of just omitting spaces and cramming words together?

1 Reply

Do i use "An" or A"

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