Vowels query

[Danny McG]

Which is correct?

Creating an universe

Creating a universe

 

[.matthew.]

a

 

[HareBrain]

Danny, have you got planning permission?

 

[Phyrebrat]

The pronunciation is with a consonant sound so in those cases I go for an ‘a’. Not sure if that’s right but it’s nicer to read.

 

[tegeus-Cromis]

An artistic universe
An atrocious universe
An airy universe

An elegant universe
An eerie universe
An earthly universe

An idiosyncratic universe
An intimate universe

An operatic universe
An open universe
An outside-in universe

An upside-down universe
A unique universe

A yuppie universe

(Trying to think of the most common initial vowel sounds. I think "universe" takes just an "a" because the "u" in it sounds like "you," so it has that y half-consonant sound.)

 

[-K2-]

'Uh'


K2

 

[Danny McG]

It was in a blurb I read on a book forum:-

"Mr xxxx is, as always, very good at creating an universe"

It jarred with my sensibilities TBH

 

[Parson]

This one baffles me. Of course if I say it, I say "a universe" because that sounds right. But doesn't follow the general rule of a and an. So I went looking, here's what I found.

We know the general rule, that we use an ‘a’ if the noun following the article starts with a consonant and ‘an’ when the noun starts with a vowel. But there are a few exceptions to the rule we must know about.

If the word that follows starts with a consonant, but we pronounce it as a vowel, then we will use ‘an’. Say for example the word honest. It starts with a consonant, but the h in the word is silent and the pronunciation begins with a vowel. So we use ‘an’ before it. Example- It was an honest mistake.

Similarly, if a word starts with a vowel but pronounced as a consonant, we will use ‘a’ and not ‘an’. Example- He is a United States citizen is the correct sentence. We will use ‘a’ and not ‘an’.

link: Indefinite Articles: Meaning, Exceptions etc with Examples and Videos


But quite frankly the explanation makes no sense. Isn't the U sound a vowel sound? All of the other exceptions I can think of "a unit" "a uniform" "a utlility" "a useless" are the long U sound. A short U sound "an upward" "an udder" "an utter" "an unimagined" all have an. So is there a long U with an? or a short U with a? Maybe the rule should be one about long U sounds?

 

[AMB]

Yes @Parson. IIRC the U in universe is a long U, and in udder is short. Easiest way to think of it is "yoo" sounds like a consonant.

Yoo-niverse, yoo-nit, yoo-tility - long U, article is "a"
uh-pward, uh-dder, uh-nimagined - short U, article is "an".

 

[ginny]

English is a universe strange; an utter bazaar of the bizarre.

 

[paranoid marvin]

English is a wonderfully contradictory language! And it most certainly is a universe.

 

[-K2-]

I'll match your vowel query with a consonant query:

A s (letter)
An s (letter)

A ‘s’ following a word makes the word plural or possessive in the same manner as English.
An ‘s’ following a word (in esa-s) makes the word plural or possessive in the same manner as English.

K2

 

[HareBrain]

I'd always go with what would be most comfortable if speaking aloud: "an s". I'd also go with "an SUV", even though it could be expanded to "a sports utility vehicle".

BTW, surprising that so many people still put "an hotel" in writing, when surely they don't actually say this?

 

[Danny McG]

BTW, surprising that so many people still put "an hotel" in writing, when surely they don't actually say this?

That's how I say it.

At Blackpool last year for a mid week break with my wife. Pronounced:

"It's getting late, we'd better look for a notel"

 

[HareBrain]

Hmm, colour me corrected.

Would you say "an istoric [e.g. building]" or "a historic"? (Granted, neither is something you're likely to say very often, if ever.)

 

[-K2-]

"It's getting late, we'd better look for a notel"

Notell-motels are the best...if you're wearing a hazmat suit.

K2

 

[tegeus-Cromis]

Notel, motel, Holiday Inn...

 

[Astro Pen]

Neither. It is "Creating the universe."

But for the purpose of the OP here's my best guess. If you want to analyse it you need to possibly consider the "uni" as an adjective tacked on to verse. Like 'A verse'. "A uni verse" in this case.

 

[ginny]

There is some sort of trick in all this-that I'm trying to remember.
My editor said something like it's an S.U.V or a SUV.(If you were pronouncing it Soov, which you are not in this case so an SUV)
I think it had to do with ROM and RAM which would be a ROM of RAM memory as opposed to An R.O.M. or R.A.M. memory.

I'd always go with what would be most comfortable if speaking aloud: "an s". I'd also go with "an SUV", even though it could be expanded to "a sports utility vehicle".

BTW, surprising that so many people still put "an hotel" in writing, when surely they don't actually say this?

An honest thought with an honorable notion that you should avoid a hotel and stay at a bed and breakfast instead.

 

[HareBrain]

There is some sort of trick in all this-that I'm trying to remember.
My editor said something like it's an S.U.V or a SUV.(If you were pronouncing it Soov, which you are not in this case so an SUV)
I think it had to do with ROM and RAM which would be a ROM of RAM memory as opposed to An R.O.M. or R.A.M. memory.

I believe most style guides indicate leaving out the full stops even where the word is pronounced as a collection of initials (ess you vee would still be written as SUV rather than S.U.V.)

I guess you just have to judge or know whether it's more commonly pronounced as initials or one word (an acronym) and use "a" or "an" accordingly. But I'm sure there are examples where some people pronounce it the first way and others the second.

Probably if a collection of initials *can* be pronounced as a word, that will become usual. E.g. if it had been the Federal Investigation Bureau, people would call it the "fib" (perhaps unfortunate) rather than the "eff bee eye", and it would be "a FIB agent" not "an FBI agent".