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Basically I know how "a" and "an" are used:

a member
an adult member

but how is the same handled when the middle word is inserted parenthetically or even in brackets:

I met a member of the club.
I met a/an - adult - member of the club.
I met a/an (adult) member of the club.

Should there be "a" used, because the main phrase is "a member" or should "an" be used because the adjective starts with a vowel? And is there a rule to quote?

Laurel
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bakunin
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    The rule is that this is a rule of pronunciation, outranking even rules of grammar and punctuation. I met a – shall we say adult – member of the club. // I met an – adult – member of the club. // I met an ... adult ... member of the club. // I met an (adult) member of the club. // I met an 'adult ' member of the club. // I met a quote adult unquote member of the club. – Edwin Ashworth Sep 11 '23 at 14:19
  • Don't be distracted by the orthography - it's purely a matter of the *sound. And since adult* starts with a "vowel sound", it's always preceded by *an* rather than *a*, regardless of any punctuation marks that may occur in the written form. – FumbleFingers Sep 11 '23 at 14:20
  • @FumbleFingers: thank you for the explanation. I haven't found the linked thread mentioned in the reason for this being closed but now have read it and the explanation there was identical. – bakunin Sep 11 '23 at 14:39
  • @EdwinAshworth: thanks for the explanation too – bakunin Sep 11 '23 at 14:40

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