Tutorial Can we have a quick grammatical discussion?

[memphis]

Hello all, I'm here to discuss with you a very persistent issue that, after searching through page after page of 1x1 ads, has become apparent to me. Some of us seem to be a little confused about indefinite articles, as observed with the prevalence of the dreaded phrase, "an roleplay". Now, I don't mean to call anyone in particular out by this; I know that all of us are at different stages in their respective writing careers (as am I aware that some of us have learning disabilities, are learning English as a secondary language, etc.), we all make mistakes, and above all we are here to have fun. We also all know English grammar is a bit silly, and there are plenty of "rules" that don't even apply to most cases. I just believe that we all can benefit from learning something new. So, without further ado, onto the lesson.

Indefinite articles. In the English language, we have two of them: a and an. They cannot be used interchangeably, and are dependent on the first letter of the word following the article. Why does it matter? For pronunciation reasons primarily. Of course it's not the end of the world if you use the wrong indefinite article, but it does get a bit awkward to read a chunk of text where there is a constant misuse of a and an. So that brings us to the question: how do we know which indefinite article is the appropriate choice? Well, as stated in this article, more articulately than I could put it:

"Use a when the next word starts with a consonant, or before words starting in u and eu when they sound like you. Use an when the next word starts with a vowel (a,e,i,o,u) or with a mute h."

More often than not, the rule will be, use a where the first letter of the word following is a consonant, and use an where the first letter of the word following is a vowel. Sounds a little confusing, at least to me, so here's some examples from the same article:

• a boy
• an apple
• a car
• a helicopter
• an elephant
• a big elephant
• an itchy sweater
• an ugly duck
• a european
• a university
• a unit
• an hour
• an honor
• and, as a bonus: a roleplay

To conclude, it might take a little practice, but once your ear is trained, it's usually pretty easy to decide which indefinite article is correct. In trickier cases, such as with the word hour, or university, go with your ear. Sometimes a word will start with a letter that is a consonant, but sounds like a vowel. You should always go with sound over looks.

Thank you, I hope this can help some of you, and I hope you're all having a good, or perhaps even an excellent day!

Disclaimer: Grammar is flexible, and I understand that, especially in colloquial language, informal writing, phonetic abbreviations, etc., the rules of it do not always apply. Also, the word roleplay is used here purely as an example, I meant this post to be only broadly speaking, and did not take into consideration every exception, or regard specific details or context that might affect these rules.

 

[frakncheese]

roleplay is often abbreviated as rp, phonetically are pee. because rp begins with a vowel sound, and because this is an internet forum and colloquial language is much more flexible than formal writing, and also because it doesn't fuckin matter, "an" is appropriate and intuitive

 

[Bone2pick]

roleplay is often abbreviated as rp, phonetically are pee. because rp begins with a vowel sound, and because this is an internet forum and colloquial language is much more flexible than formal writing, and also because it doesn't fuckin matter, "an" is appropriate and intuitive

Totally agree.

 

[memphis]

roleplay is often abbreviated as rp, phonetically are pee. because rp begins with a vowel sound, and because this is an internet forum and colloquial language is much more flexible than formal writing, and also because it doesn't fuckin matter, "an" is appropriate and intuitive

That is a good point; I suppose if you where reading it phonetically, that would be very true. However, I never claimed that colloquial language isn't flexible, and I even said grammar rules are often silly, and that we are just here for fun. I'm just speaking for the cases in which the word roleplay is spelled out in its entirety, as used in my original post. I also think you might have misinterpreted my intentions; in my original post I know I used the phrase "an roleplay" as an example, but this was meant to be a broad lesson, not just nitpicking that specific example. But thank you for pointing that out, I suppose I could have clarified that better, and added a disclaimer.

 

[frakncheese]

That is a good point; I suppose if you where reading it phonetically, that would be very true. However, I never claimed that colloquial language isn't flexible, and I even said grammar rules are often silly, and that we are just here for fun. I'm just speaking for the cases in which the word roleplay is spelled out in its entirety, as used in my original post. I also think you might have misinterpreted my intentions; in my original post I know I used the phrase "an roleplay" as an example, but this was meant to be a broad lesson, not just nitpicking that specific example. But thank you for pointing that out, I suppose I could have clarified that better, and added a disclaimer.

looks like i misunderstood. i guess i thought we were talking about roleplays because this forum is called roleplay discussion. my bad

 

[memphis]

looks like i misunderstood. i guess i thought we were talking about roleplays because this forum is called roleplay discussion. my bad

If you're referring to the actual substance and writing of a roleplay, then yes, that was in fact part of what I was talking about. I was just clarifying that I did not mean this to be simply about the word roleplay itself. I apologize for any misunderstanding.

 

[Natural Flavour]

an rp.

a roleplay.

How strange.

 

[memphis]

an rp.

a roleplay.

How strange.

Grammar is weird, man. It's also kinda crazy how you can tell just by sounding it out whether it's right or not in this case.