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Anonymous Posted 15 years ago
Grammar
A or an
While translating from Dutch to English, I regularly come upon abbreviations. I can't figure out whether or not I should use a or an in such cases.
Eg:
HBM stands for Hottinger Baldwin Messtechnik, a brand of electronic measuring apparatus. If I would have such a machine, would I call it 'a HBM amplifier' or 'an HBM amplifier'? This depends on whether or not the reader would say the abbreviation (in which case, an H would be correct). If you immediately elaborate the abbreviation to its full extend, it would be a.
The same goes for FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) and such, since it is an F and a fast.
Is there a general rule for these cases?
Eg:
HBM stands for Hottinger Baldwin Messtechnik, a brand of electronic measuring apparatus. If I would have such a machine, would I call it 'a HBM amplifier' or 'an HBM amplifier'? This depends on whether or not the reader would say the abbreviation (in which case, an H would be correct). If you immediately elaborate the abbreviation to its full extend, it would be a.
The same goes for FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) and such, since it is an F and a fast.
Is there a general rule for these cases?
Top answer
There is a rule: if the sound following the article is a vowel sound , an is the correct article: an honest man. ]. The first sound is a vowel, consequently an is the correct article: an HBM amplifier.
- There is a rule: if the sound following the article is a vowel sound , an is the correct article: an honest man.
- ].
- The first sound is a vowel, consequently an is the correct article: an HBM amplifier.
- CB
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3 Answers
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There is a rule: if the sound following the article is a vowel sound, an is the correct article: an honest man. In English, the letter h is pronounced [eit?]. The first sound is a vowel, consequently an is the correct article: an HBM amplifier.
CB
CB
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CB,
That is indeed correct, and I am aware of this basic rule. However, if you pronounce Hottinger, it is not a vowel sound. You would have to assume that the reader does not expand the abbreviation for the above to work. For example, if I read HBM, I don't think of the sequence of letters, I think Hottinger Baldwin Messtechnik, which brings us back to the original problem.
Yoeri
That is indeed correct, and I am aware of this basic rule. However, if you pronounce Hottinger, it is not a vowel sound. You would have to assume that the reader does not expand the abbreviation for the above to work. For example, if I read HBM, I don't think of the sequence of letters, I think Hottinger Baldwin Messtechnik, which brings us back to the original problem.
Yoeri
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Yoeri Bruinsma For example, if I read HBM, I don't think of the sequence of letters, I think Hottinger Baldwin Messtechnik, which brings us back to the original problem.No, it doesn't. What you think of when you read HBM is of no consequence. When an English-speaking person sees the letters HBM, he doesn't have the vaguest idea what the letters stand for, and
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