If I want to say something has uniquely contributed to something, would I say 'it is making a unique contribution', or 'it is making an unique contribution'?

LOL it is so trivial but I'm running them both through my head and I can't work out which is right! A sounds fine, and you wouldn't say an union for instance (would you? [img]graemlins/reallyroll.gif[/img] ). But an is beginning to sound okay as well!

How pedantic! I'd guess it's the first one - "it is making a unique contribution" - it just sounds better to me [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Pedantic? Moi? [img]tongue.gif[/img]

LOL well it's for uni; I don't want the marker to be distracted by grammatical errors that he misses all my brilliant interpretation :D

I dunno if I can take just your word for it though [img]tongue.gif[/img] . I need a consensus ;)

I was taught that unique, since the U there sounds like "you". so we use A. thus it is a unique, a university etc.

gee..I can't believe I said that. :D

You use a instead of an, but pronounce it AY instead of A.
This rule is similar to THEE instead of THE when in front of a word starting with a vowel.

EG The man went to town.
EG Thee animal went to town.

Just ask if you need a better explanation, since that might be a little vague.

akkk more learning,lol but i agree use a before an in sentences requiring a presnt tense...oh did i mention i scored 117 on my iq test.....roflmao not possible for me but i did really

I would be tempted to say "an", but then I am the kind of pedant who would say "an union," so I can't really help you....

Did you know that "bus" should be written "'bus"? You get a lot of points for that.....

EDIT: My use of the word "'bus" doesn't compare too well, so for those of you who cannot spot it, there's an apostrophe at the start of the correct version [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 04-27-2003, 08:06 PM: Message edited by: Mojo ]

From the good people at alt.usage.english, regarding "a vs an":

It's a pronounciation rule, not a spelling one..."Union", etc, are not pronounced "u-" but "yu-", thus an implied consonant and "a".

Well yeah let me just reinforce what others have said:

If the word following the "a" or "an" is pronounced starting with a vowel then you use "an", otherwise use "a". Seeing as "unique" is pronounced "yooneek" i.e. starting with a consonant, you use "a".

And pcgiant is right... in the same way you use "the" pronouncing the "e" like the "i" in "dirt" when the next word is pronounced with a consonant and "the" pronounced "thee" when the next word is pronounced starting with a vowel.

Damn I hate long explanations but I feel it is my civic duty :D

Vaskez and pcgiant are both right. It is based on the "sound" at the beginning of the word not the letter. The reverse of that, is if you are a person the pronounces the word "herb" with a silent h, you would say an herb. It gets into elision on pronounciation. Hope that helps.

Yes that's what I was leaning towards. I had 'a' originally, but I was just reading through this morning and I suddenly thought, is that right? And after running over it a few times it started to look and sound completely meaningless! Cool, thanks guys [img]smile.gif[/img] . LOL it really is such a small thing, obviously my tutor isn't going be reading along and suddenly pull up when he sees an incorrect an ;) , but it was bugging me that I couldn't figure out what was right! If you say 'an unique' enough times it starts to sound okay!

Have you noticed some people say 'an historic' when they enunciate the h sound? I've heard a lot of newsreaders do that. It sounds weird, especially newsreaders because by virtue of being newsreaders they articulate each sound more clearly than just people speaking normally, so the /n/ and the /h/ don't sort of run into each other but are both 'hard' sounds. And yet you don't hear them saying for instance 'an human' or 'an hitman' or 'an hissing sound'.

Seraph, Vaskez, and Reeka are right. Which is why I think "an historic" only applies when you pronounce the "h" in historic.

In the US the way it works is as follows. "a hotel, a historic, etc." is used for words where the 'h' is asperated. However, for words where the 'h' is not asperated "an heir, an hour, etc." then 'an' is used.

"an historic" has to do with the (British?) pronunciation of historic as "iss tor ic".

[ 04-28-2003, 02:25 AM: Message edited by: Seraph ]

Yup, Vaskez and Reeka are right.... A dictionary will tell you the phonetic pronouciations....

But since you are doing a degree on this, you hardly need us mouthing about it :D

Boy, it's easy to get bogged down in the details...

My first choice would be to reword the sentence so I didn't have to deal with the awkward phrase. So I'd look at something like "Its unique contribution..."

The second reason I'd do that is it gets rid of the passive voice situation. I'm not particularly militant about it, but if you're dealing with someone who worries about whether it's "a unique" or "an unique", that will be the least of your worries.

Or third, you could flip it around: It contributed uniquely... Again, active voice instead of passive voice. You could try "It made a unique contribution..." but that doesn't get rid of the phrasing.

Ah well... rotsa ruck!

i thought that if you use vowels (A-E-I-O-U) then you make use of an then the rest A... ?? or am i wrong ?

My sister, my friend and I all say A, althogh it is prob'ly wrong, but Hey! it sounds right.
That's wot matters.

<font color=skyblue>English is not the only language that changes it's rules for the sound or flow of the sentence. In spanish, they use the letter "Y" to mean "and". Sometimes, depending on the need...the letter "E" is used instead. That makes the pronouncing of the sentence flow with more beauty and not so harsh sounding . </font>

LOL I'm not doing a degree in grammar, dear ;) . Psychology. Sadly though I have to use English to express myself [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Yes, Seraph, that's what I mean. An historic is fine when you pronounce it istoric, but it's becoming really common to say an historic when you pronounce the h which seems inconsistent.

Well Bungleau, that's probably good advice for some situations but I'm writing a report and reporting what the various variables contributed to predicting the criterion. That's the clearest way of expressing it.

Like I said, it doesn't really matter at all. It was just bugging me that both sounded right, and like dear Alex said, I'm a pedant ;)

Read my explanation above....only if you use the vowel SOUNDS it's not the spelling that counts.

Read my explanation above....only if you use the vowel SOUNDS it's not the spelling that counts. </font>[/QUOTE]AKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!
why do i feel like i am back in school when i see vaskez??????

Well fa fa fa, Mel [img]tongue.gif[/img]

*runs out of thread*

LOL - methinks he wants someone to chase him [img]smile.gif[/img]


Davros releases the hounds :D .