An

I have been exploring and reading here and keeping an eye out for the word »an« since I wrote a post about that indefinite article. I was a bit surprised at how many entries I had to read before I found a post which used the word »an«.

It was an interesting musing on »eschatology« by Melissa back in the early days of the Blaster, on April 12th, 2000.

The Blaster, of course, is evidence of a different tendency than that which she discusses in her post. Here we have the inclination to create something which has no beginning or end, but loops and twists and turns back on itself through an enchanting labyrinth of clicks and links.

If you manage to find your way to Melissa's post on »eschatology«, you may or may not succeed in finding your way back here by clicking on »an« in that text.

In English, »a« is used as the indefinite article before all words that begin with a consonant sound. If a word begins with a vowel sound, then »an« is used as the indefinite article.

It is important to remember that it is the type of »sound« used when speaking a word that determines whether »a« or »an« should be used. Some words that are written with an initial consonant have a vowel sound. Other words written with an initial vowel have a consonant sound.

Because the sound is the determining factor, some words may take different indefinite articles according to their pronunciation in British English, American English, or various dialects.