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I am unsure whether to use "a" or "an" in the following sentence:

Video games have become a/an ubiquitous part of American culture.

For me, saying the two sentences out loud makes "an" seem like the right choice but Microsoft Word proofing disagrees.

terminex9
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  • Which grammar check version are you using -- UK or US English? – chasly - supports Monica Oct 18 '15 at 19:19
  • US English version – terminex9 Oct 18 '15 at 19:20
  • @Jim - I think this is a special case because both are used. – chasly - supports Monica Oct 18 '15 at 20:35
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    Depends on whether you say youbiquitous like the majority of people nowadays, or oobiquitous. Both are equally correct (for now). –  Oct 18 '15 at 20:54
  • @HansAdler: What dictionaries list "oobiquitous"? This is the first time I've heard of it. It sounds like a mis-pronunciation to me, so I'm curious why you say it is correct - are there certain fields where the term is used where this is a widespread pronunciation? – herisson Oct 18 '15 at 20:57
  • Yep, depends on how it's pronounced. oobiquitous is less common, but not exceedingly rare. – Hot Licks Oct 18 '15 at 21:10
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    @chaslyfromUK- I believe it's a duplicate because the rule stated in the linked answer still applies. It's the consonant sound or the vowel sound that should determine which you choose. – Jim Oct 18 '15 at 21:10
  • @sumelic: None that I am aware of. But if someone pronounces it that way, then this seems totally legitimate to me. And the statistics provided by chasly suggest that the variant pronunciation was actually the standard in the 19th century. –  Oct 18 '15 at 21:11
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    No-one says 'oobiqitus' and no-one ever has as far as I know. This is a different phenomenon. Some people did and some people still do use 'an' in front of certain words beginning with 'u'. It is pronounced 'an you-biquitous'. I'll see if I can find examples of other such words. I'm pretty sure that Carl Sagan used to talk like this. – chasly - supports Monica Oct 18 '15 at 21:18
  • @Jim - Well there's 'should' and there's what people actually do. There is a long-running debate on when rules win over usage and vice versa. – chasly - supports Monica Oct 18 '15 at 21:23
  • @chaslyfromUK - I have definitely heard reasonably literate people say "oobiquitous". However, the pronunciation is often not distinct such that the only "tell" (unless you pay very close attention) is the (optional) indefinite article. – Hot Licks Oct 18 '15 at 21:33
  • I just learned that many of the words starting u- or eu- that are now pronounced with a yoo- sound were originally pronounced with an eeoo- sound that apparently explains the former use of an for them. –  Oct 18 '15 at 21:35
  • @Hans: which other words like this were formerly used with "an"? – herisson Oct 18 '15 at 23:00
  • @sumelic: Basically everything starting with u or eu. Examples –  Oct 18 '15 at 23:07
  • @HansAdler: maybe it's related to the phenomenon discussed in these questions: Why is it “an yearly”?, “a” or “an” for words beginning with “eu” – herisson Oct 23 '15 at 20:00

1 Answers1

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This isn't straightforward. In my version of English, I would say 'a ubiquitous'. It seems that the grammar checkers in MS Word agree -- both in US and UK English.

However, take a look at this ngram of published works.

Google ngram: a ubiquitous,an ubiquitous

You can see that a changeover occurred in the late 1880s but both versions survive up to the present day.

enter image description here

chasly - supports Monica
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