Re: [tm-pubsubj-comment] English lesson (late one Friday)

[Steve Pepper <pepper@ontopia.net>]

At 16:01 23/08/02 +0200, Bernard Vatant wrote:
> >  - Section 3, req #1: "a URI". :-)
>
>Ohh, YES ... perseverare diabolicum ...
>But this rule is one mystery of English to me. What I learnt is:
>1. The article "a" becomes "an" when the name initial is a vowel
>2. "u" is a vowel.
>So ... where did I go wrong? Is that an exception?

How you pronounce the *name* of the letter "u" is different from
how you pronounce the letter "u" itself. The former might be written
'you'; the latter 'oo'.

This acronym is pronounced using the names of the letters - 'you'
'are' 'eye' - so it actually begins with a 'y', not a 'u', and
therefore requires 'a', not 'an'.

Try saying "we all live in an yellow submarine" and you'll
see why 'an' doesn't work.

Time for a beer, I think :-)

Steve

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Steve Pepper, Chief Executive Officer <pepper@ontopia.net>
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