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I hear the phrase "an American" and wonder why "a American" sounds incorrect. "a [nationalism]" works in every other context. "a Libyan" "a Russian" "a Chinese". Other examples where "an" sounds correct where "a" does not is "an Apache". What is the difference between the determiners A and An and why the inconsistency?

Seph
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1 Answers1

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It's a according to the whether the first syllable sound is a vowel sound or constant sound. I specify the syllable sound and not the first letter because it would be "an hour" due to the h being silent. So if the word starts with a vowel sound use an, but use a for words that start with constant sounds.

Diane Rhodes
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  • Diane, this question has been asked easily 100 times. It is best to avoid answering such repeat questions and merely close them as a "duplicate". (However, your answer is quite correct and hits the important point that it's the vowel sound and not the physical vowel that determines which form to use.) – Hot Licks Aug 22 '18 at 01:38