# "An" great opportunity? Say what?!? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 10, 2004, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-great-opportunity-say-what/263918 "2004-09-10T15:49:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gazelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Gazelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gazelle)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-great-opportunity-say-what/263918/1 "2004-09-10T15:49:09Z")
My manager gave me an edit that completely floored me. Am I losing my mind or is she? Here’s the sentence: > [@](#): > > Our numerous locations are **an** great advantage for you if you move to another state… I think it should be **a** , the boss thinks it should be **an**. I’ve checked out a couple of my handbooks and can’t find a rule… If you have a cite, that would be very helpful. Especially if I’m right. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-great-opportunity-say-what/263918/2 "2004-09-10T15:55:12Z")
Your boss is wrong. The word “an” is, and always has been, used exclusively before words that begin with a vowel sound, no exceptions: An advantage An hour An opening ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-great-opportunity-say-what/263918/3 "2004-09-10T16:01:00Z")
‘An’ is used when the word following it is pronouced with an initial vowel sound ([cite](http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~cs5014/fall.95/courseNotes/WebPages/5.TechnicalCommunication/tc_2_Usage.html#whenAvsAn)) so: An apple An orange An opportunity A car A sausage A great opportunity There are a few words that begin with a consonant, but it is silent or pronouced as a vowel, so in some places: An herb (when herb is pronounced urb) An hospital (when it is pronounced 'ospital) ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-great-opportunity-say-what/263918/4 "2004-09-10T16:12:26Z")
A google search of “an great” grammar turns up surprisingly many grammar-oriented sites using this exact phrase. I can’t find anything (yet) that explains any kind of exception that makes “an great” (which just sounds hideous!) acceptable, or even correct. Still looking. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-great-opportunity-say-what/263918/5 "2004-09-10T16:13:33Z")
Cecil wept. Google search: Results 1 - 10 of about **39,600** for " an great" Finding an Great Dane Breeder Tomato Strainer - an great tool for home cooks What an GREAT ride. Does anyone know of an great theater currently showing Titanic Eastern Mediterranean Turkey - An great climate and some … Granted, some of them were acutally Chinese (Xi’an Great Mosque), but still. Dang. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-great-opportunity-say-what/263918/6 "2004-09-10T16:15:47Z")
**TellMeImNotCrazy** :mad: :mad: :mad: ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-great-opportunity-say-what/263918/7 "2004-09-10T16:20:13Z")
Sorry \*\*Ethilrist \*\* 😉 OK, looking up “great” in Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, all examples that include an indefinite article use “a” instead of “an”. I don’t know if that’s a good enough cite or not. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-great-opportunity-say-what/263918/8 "2004-09-10T16:38:29Z")
> [@TellMeI'mNotCrazy](#): > > I can’t find anything (yet) that explains any kind of exception that makes “an great” (which just sounds hideous!) acceptable, or even correct. Still looking. It’s the “Internet Idiocy” exception. There are many many places on the Internet where the normal rules of grammar, or even logic and common sense, do not apply. There is no circumstance that would make “an great” an acceptable usage in English. **Gazelle’s** manager’s education has evidently been sadly incomplete. It is difficult for me to imagine how anyone could believe that that was correct. ---
**Author:** ![missbunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-great-opportunity-say-what/263918/9 "2004-09-10T17:10:58Z")
[QUOTE=Ethilrist] Google search: Results 1 - 10 of about **39,600** for " an great" QUOTE] 39,600 people are either more stupid than dirt or they don’t bother proofreading. I would refuse to make that edit, Gazelle. I’d do it in a nice way but I’d REFUSE all the same. Has she told you why she thinks she’s right? Ask her and see what she says. ---
**Author:** ![missbunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-great-opportunity-say-what/263918/10 "2004-09-10T17:14:28Z")
See, I just neglected to proofread and now some bozo out there is going to take my post as “proof” that instead of using quotation marks like all thinking people do, it’s perfectly correctly to quote people by putting [quote] in front of their statements. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-great-opportunity-say-what/263918/11 "2004-09-10T17:15:08Z")
Tell your boss no. In writing. And copy in her boss. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-great-opportunity-say-what/263918/12 "2004-09-10T17:17:24Z")
> [@](#): > > Your boss is wrong. The word “an” is, and always has been, used exclusively before words that begin with a vowel sound, no exceptions: > > An advantage > An hour > An opening 'cept, of course, if the vowel sound is a “long u” : _a_ unicorn _a_ unified field theory _a_ uintatherium but _an_ umbrella, because that’s a “short u” ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-great-opportunity-say-what/263918/13 "2004-09-10T17:29:41Z")
I get the impression that most of those google hits for “an great” are just times when the writer first wrote “an excellent,” then decided to change that word, but forgot to change the article. Gazelle, what’s your boss’s reason for “an”? When I read the OP, I thought he must be thinking that “an” would be correct because the noun it goes with is “advantage.” In fact, I would bet money on it. Of course, this is wrong, as every native English speaker who is at least three years old can tell you. ---
**Author:** ![Gazelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Gazelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gazelle)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-great-opportunity-say-what/263918/14 "2004-09-10T17:30:05Z")
You guys roooooooock! FWIW, I think my bossola got confused because the noun starts with a vowel. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-great-opportunity-say-what/263918/15 "2004-09-10T17:35:14Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > 'cept, of course, if the vowel sound is a “long u” : > _a_ unicorn > _a_ unified field theory > _a_ uintatherium No, those words begin with the “y” sound, which is a consonant. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-great-opportunity-say-what/263918/16 "2004-09-10T17:48:16Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > Your boss is wrong. The word “an” is, and always has been, used exclusively before words that begin with a vowel sound, no exceptions: > > An advantage > An hour > An opening What about X words? “a x-ray” occurs 24,000 times on google. “an x-ray” occurs 609,000 times. X-File is prefaced by “an” far more than “a” too, and neither X-Ray nor X-File begin with a vowel sound… ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-great-opportunity-say-what/263918/17 "2004-09-10T18:01:09Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > …and neither X-Ray nor X-File begin with a vowel sound… Yes they do! Although they’re spelled with consonants, the _sound_ at the beginning of those words is a short e. Again, the rule is not based on how words are spelled, it’s based on how they’re pronounced. “Uniform” is pronounced with a beginning “y” sound, so it takes “a” as its indefinite article, and “x-ray” starts with a vowel sound, so it takes “an.” ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-great-opportunity-say-what/263918/18 "2004-09-10T18:04:50Z")
“An x-ray” is correct, since “ex” starts with a vowel sound. Remember, it’s always the pronounciation, not the spelling, that determines whether you use “a” or “an.” ---
**Author:** ![Stringer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Stringer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stringer)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-great-opportunity-say-what/263918/19 "2004-09-10T18:06:23Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > What about X words? “a x-ray” occurs 24,000 times on google. “an x-ray” occurs 609,000 times. X-File is prefaced by “an” far more than “a” too, and neither X-Ray nor X-File begin with a vowel sound… It’s the sound made at the beginning of the word that determines the rule, not just if it is a consonant or vowel. Another similar situation would be if the word is an acronym where the first letter starts with a vowel sound, such as “an SCM engineer” or “an HTML editor.” ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-great-opportunity-say-what/263918/20 "2004-09-10T18:12:09Z")
Tell your boss he is a idot (16,500 references found for "a idiot). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-great-opportunity-say-what/263918.md?page=2)