When writing a sentence about the GNU tools, how is the “a”/“an” used when describing a specific GNU tool?
Gawk, a GNU tool, performs the …
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Gawk, an GNU tool, performs the …
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John Greene
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1Why would you use 'an'? There isn't a following vowel. – Weather Vane Mar 28 '24 at 18:10
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... 'There isn't a gnu in sight' and equally 'There isn't a 'g' in view'. Where acronyms / initialisms begin with a vowel [sound], it's always 'an'. The a/an choice is always governed by how the next entity read out sounds ... well almost (see 'an hotel?') – Edwin Ashworth Mar 28 '24 at 19:17
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In my experience, people pronounce the 'G' in GNU, so it would be "a GNU tool". – user888379 Mar 28 '24 at 19:58
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Yes, ⟨gnu⟩ antelope can be pronounced without /g/, but ⟨GNU⟩ group-of-software-projects officially has pronunciation /ɡnuː/. – Arfrever Mar 28 '24 at 20:19
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1There is no way you can pronounce "GNU" that would require "an", whether it's "new" or "G - N - U". The tags are totally wrong too. – Stuart F Mar 28 '24 at 22:18
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1@user888379 whether g-nu or nu, there is still no reason for 'an'. – Weather Vane Mar 28 '24 at 22:19
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@WeatherVane D'oh! You are, of course, correct. – user888379 Mar 29 '24 at 12:24