# What Exactly Is 'a'-' Used For?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-used-for/218570>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 12, 2003, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-used-for/218570 "2003-12-12T11:46:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-used-for/218570/1 "2003-12-12T11:46:06Z")

</div>

It is put at the beginning of verbs. But it doesn’t seem to change their meanings too much:

He came running to the store.  
He came a’-running to the store.

On top of that, most writers don’t even use it any more. Does anyone know how **exactly** “a’-” changes the meaning of verbs, if in any way? I realize it does change the meaning _a little_. But what significance does it have today? And moreover how exactly was it originally used?

🙂

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![gentle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/eb8c5e/32.png) [@gentle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gentle)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-used-for/218570/2 "2003-12-12T12:36:06Z")

</div>

I always understood this to be verbal padding, used in songs to balance the number of syllables needed to rhyme or complete a line. For example, in Dylan’s “the times they are a-changin’”, removing the “a” would force the singer to pause or stretch out the vowel of some other word in order to fit the meter of the song. (In older English folk singing there is the similar -o ending, which always struck to me as a somewhat [lazy way of making rhymes](http://www.mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=820).)

Although I don’t think I have seen this construct used outside of song and poetry, it also applies a colloquialism in verbal speech. In your example there is no vowel between the words, and by padding with a neutral vowel such as “a”, the sentence becomes marginally easier to speak; in other words, it’s basically sloppiness. I don’t perceive there as being any change of meaning here.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-used-for/218570/3 "2003-12-12T13:34:51Z")

</div>

It is also supposed to be a “folksy” way of saying things. L’il Abner used it a lot.

I don’t know if there is any real basis for the convention, though.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Insecta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3da27b/32.png) [@Insecta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Insecta)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-used-for/218570/4 "2003-12-12T16:50:06Z")

</div>

I’ve always read it to mean now, or immediately, so “He came a-running” is, “He came running immediately.”

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-used-for/218570/5 "2003-12-12T18:28:38Z")

</div>

The dictionary is your friend.

> [@](#):
>
> **a-** _prefix; literary or archaic (used before a present participle)_ in the act or process of: _come a-running; go a-hunting_