Re: A User or An User?

[Michael West <WestM -at- conwag -dot- com>]

 Will asks:
> I've been using "a User" in my manuals. In your manuals, do you refer to 
the 
> user as "a User" or "an User?"


This is, of course, basic English and it is astonishing to find a question 
like this in this forum.

But yes, it is "a user". Always. It is never "An user".

Vowels are *sounds*. When we say that "a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y" are 
vowels, what we really mean is that, in writing, those letters are used to 
*represent* a vowel sound.

The deciding factor is the *sound* --  not the spelling.

The English word "User" begins with a consonant sound, not a vowel sound. 
Consider provide your client with the definition of "vowel" from a good 
dictionary.

By the way, there's no reason to capitalise "user" unless it's the first 
word in a sentence.

--
Mike West
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