# A or AN

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-or-an/299816>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 18, 2005, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-or-an/299816 "2005-04-18T01:00:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![neisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4bbf92/32.png) [@neisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neisha)\
**Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-or-an/299816/1 "2005-04-18T01:00:46Z")

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\*\*“She is a RN.” ? \*\* or **“She is an RN.”**?

Which is correct?

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**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\
**Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-or-an/299816/2 "2005-04-18T01:07:03Z")

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The second one; it’s determined by the sound of the beginning of the following word. So it would be “She is **a** registered nurse” (“registered” starts with a consonant sound), but “She is **an** R.N.” (“R” is pronounced with a vowel sound even though the letter itself is a consonant).

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**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\
**Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-or-an/299816/3 "2005-04-18T01:09:41Z")

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I’d say “an” is correct here. It’s the initial sound that matters. You say an hour even though hour starts with a consonant since the H is silent there. You pronounce RN as ah-r eh-n so it starts with a vowel sound.

Besides, saying “a RN” particularly if you say “ay” rather than “uh” is very confusing as you seem to be saying she is A R N as in her name is Arn and I’m spelling it for you.

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**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\
**Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-or-an/299816/4 "2005-04-18T01:14:05Z")

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Yeah, it’s definitely “an.”

I had something of a strange moment with this issue today. I’m learning Structured Query Language, the main language used by databases, and i was reading a book on the subject. This language is usually abbreviated SQL.

I was surprised to see the following:

“The difference between **a** SQL statement…”

Then i realized that, while i pronounce SQL as “ess queue ell,” some people actually refer to the abbreviation SQL by the word “sequel,” and that the authors of the manual i was reading must be among those people.