# Using a/an in front of an acronym **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 2, 2006, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-a-an-in-front-of-an-acronym/378885 "2006-11-02T20:11:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-a-an-in-front-of-an-acronym/378885/1 "2006-11-02T20:11:34Z")
When using SLA\* (service level agreement) in a sentence, should I say: Defining a SLA requires… -or- Defining an SLA requires… I was sure I’d seen a recent thread about this, but I can’t find it. - I know it’s not technically an acronym, it’s an initialism. But that’s how most people use the word. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-a-an-in-front-of-an-acronym/378885/2 "2006-11-02T20:31:10Z")
It **was** done recently. Dozens of people weighed in. Quick and simple answer: it depends on whether the _initial phoneme of the spoken form_ is vowel or consonant in nature. SLA, spoken, is “Ess Ell Ay” – and hence takes “an.” BLT, on the other hand, is “Bee Ell Tee” and takes “a.” Notice that four vowels and numerous consonants begin with a vowel sound, but U, Y, and numerous other consonants with a consonant sound. Hence the usage is “a USCG cutter” because the oral form is “You Ess See Gee.” On acronyms that are said as words, like radar and NATO, the same rule applies – the initial phoneme of the pronounced word is what governs. “A NATO base typically has a radar station, guarded by a SEALs detachment or an RAF detachment.” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-a-an-in-front-of-an-acronym/378885/3 "2006-11-02T20:33:06Z")
[The recent thread.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=393448&highlight=acronym) To sum up, it’s always based on pronounciation. You probably pronounce “SLA” as “ess ell ay”, so it’d be “an ess ell ay”. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-a-an-in-front-of-an-acronym/378885/4 "2006-11-02T20:34:07Z")
I thought there was a recent thread too, but I can’t find it. The conclusion is the use “a” or “an” depending on how the acronym/initialism is pronounced, not how it is spelled. So “an SLA”. "[Use an](http://www.getintouni.com/Free/GrammarStyle/GrammarA/) in place of a when it precedes a vowel sound, not just a vowel. That means it’s “an honor” (the h is silent), but “a UFO” (because it’s pronounced yoo eff oh). This confuses people most often with acronyms and other abbreviations: some people think it’s wrong to use “an” in front of an abbreviation (like “MRI”) because “an” can only go before vowels. Poppycock: the sound is what matters. It’s “an MRI,” assuming you pronounce it “em ar eye.” ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-a-an-in-front-of-an-acronym/378885/5 "2006-11-02T20:35:38Z")
Or, what those smarter and quicker guys said. (I’m glad I got it right.) Oh, and don’t use an apostrophe when pluralizing an acronym/initialism. SLAs, not SLA’s. ---
**Author:** ![snailboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@snailboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snailboy)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-a-an-in-front-of-an-acronym/378885/6 "2006-11-03T00:12:45Z")
It’s the same as words, really. You would say “an honor,” not “a honor,” as well as “a universe,” not “an universe.” The first letter of the following word never determines whether _a_ or _an_ should be used; it’s the sound. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-a-an-in-front-of-an-acronym/378885/7 "2006-11-03T12:40:12Z")
What is the grammatical rule which governs the following statement recorded in a policeman’s notebook: ‘When I read the defendant his rights he threatened to insert an (unlit) firework up my left nostril.’ I thought, and I may be wrong, that if any word or phrase in brackets is removed from a sentence then what remains must make grammatical sense. In this case it doesn’t. However ‘a (unlit) firework’ doesn’t seem to work either. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-a-an-in-front-of-an-acronym/378885/8 "2006-11-03T12:50:48Z")
[QUOTE=Chez Guevara] What is the grammatical rule which governs the following statement recorded in a policeman’s notebook: ‘When I read the defendant his rights he threatened to insert an (unlit) firework up my left nostril.’ I thought, and I may be wrong, that if any word or phrase in brackets is removed from a sentence then what remains must make grammatical sense. In this case it doesn’t. However ‘a (unlit) firework’ doesn’t seem to work either. [/QUOTE] Not quite: The policeman, not required to enforce prescriptivist “Laws of Usage,” chose “an” on the basis of what he had actually written, which included “(unlit)” as the next-following word. In edited renderings of quotations, you’ll find all manner of parenthetic material that when removed renders the sentence much less sensible. “He [said] that he [would have] finished by next Monday.” This is clearly a case in which tenses have been changed to fit the surrounding narrative. But omitting the words in brackets leaves the initial clause without a verb and turns the future perfect construction into a bizarre past-for-future tense.