Should “an” or"a" be used before words in a quotation that start with a vowel sound?
An example would be... It is part of a 'everything is fine' narrative that will do more harm than good.
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If the next word starts with a vowel sound, then you use the article that you always use if the next word starts with a vowel sound. – RegDwigнt Jan 03 '20 at 11:09
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This is an area which really exposes the difficulties we have with English 'rules', either patterns we see that have arisen almost automatically in the language and have tried to codify, or arbitrary rules we have sought to impose to bring the best out of the language. And the difficulties we have when rules conflict, or when some disagree over what the rules should be. But thankfully (almost) everyone agrees on this one. The pronunciation-aid rule trumps all other rules (eg 'parentheticals etc must require no change at all to the matrix sentence when omitted'). An (almost) universal rule. – Edwin Ashworth Jan 03 '20 at 11:28
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but when you pronounce/read the sentence out loud, that next word after 'a' is not 'everything is fine' but is rather 'quote - everything is fine - end quote' – user371122 Jan 03 '20 at 11:31