Indefinite article confusion preceding "one-to-one"

Question

Possible Duplicate:
When should I use “a” vs “an”?

While I was reading a book, I faced the following sentence:

There is a one-to-one correspondence between the two sets of quantities.

So, my question is: why the indefinite article "a" is not "an" in this phrase? The following word starts with a vowel, so shouldn't it be "an"?

See http://english.blogoverflow.com/2011/11/articles-a-vs-an/. — Marthaª, Nov 10 '11 at 16:08
Also semi-relevant: http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2429/can-doubt-sometimes-mean-question — Marthaª, Nov 10 '11 at 16:10
You could solve your problem by saying "bijective" instead... — dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten, Nov 11 '11 at 00:08

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 10 '11 at 16:06

2

The word one is pronounced as beginning with a /w/ sound. Because this is a consonant sound and not a vowel sound, the indefinite article a is used instead of an.

answered Nov 10 '11 at 16:06

Brendon

4,245

2

People, this is such an obvious duplicate that you have no excuse for posting answers to it. – Marthaª Nov 10 '11 at 16:19

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 10 '11 at 16:08

0

It's not about spelling but about the pronunciation. 'one' is spelled with a vowel 'o' at the beginning, but it is the sound 'w' (a bilabial glide) that is not really a vowel.

answered Nov 10 '11 at 16:08

Mitch

71,423

2

People, this is such an obvious duplicate that you have no excuse for posting answers to it. – Marthaª Nov 10 '11 at 16:19
@Marthaª: I went to check the other answer first (I was going to immediately vote to close as duplicate), but I didn't see in the other question anything addressing this particular case. 'o' certainly looks like a vowel to most people (naively), so why doesn't the rule apply? – Mitch Nov 10 '11 at 17:47
It's still the same rule: if it sounds like a consonant, use 'a'. We don't need to have separate questions about every letter of the alphabet. – Marthaª Nov 10 '11 at 18:02
@Marthaª: What about “a” or “an” for words that don't start with vowels but sound like they're starting with a vowel? That's a reasonable question if you don't know English and pronounce initial "st" as /est/. I see similar reasonableness with "one". It's a seeming exception to the rule that needs explanation. – Mitch Nov 10 '11 at 18:27

Indefinite article confusion preceding "one-to-one"

2 Answers2

Linked