Which do you prefer?

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Yeah, this is random and kinda stupid. There is probably some rule about acronyms or whatever that makes one or the other correct, but I am a curious child, which do you prefer?

I suddenly find myself singing Apollo 440

It's not stupid. This is a serious matter!

I would say "an NT", but (of course) "a neurotypical".

I think H is the most controversial letter.
I say and write "an H", and "a hotel", but I think lots of people disagree.

An NT, of course.
And yes, there is some rule.
But it's painfully simple:

Think about it; the sound you are making in saying that is "EN - T"
There's a silent vowel sound on the front end of the "N", so it sounds perfectly natural to say An NT.

Same thing with the letter "H". Again, phonetically you are saying "A-CH". A as in Ate, and CH as in CHurch. A-CH. So it seems natural to say "an H". And you would naturally say "a hotel" because the "A" sound does not exist when H is used that way.

The English language is f*cked

well, they did try to set the spelling up using Latin as a guide (centuries ago)..

Am I the only one who just had a flashback of The Electric Company from PBS?

Being that I'm a teacher by trade, I take that as the greatest compliment!

It's 'a' because NT isn't a word it's an abbreviation. Look at it unabbreviated 'neurally typical' and you see you wouldn't use an 'an' but an 'a'.

Remembering things are slightly different in the UK I'm sure the above is correct. This is the kind of useful thing I remember from school

[edit] obviously it's the other way if you're saying it rather than writing it.

Last edited by racooneyes on 06 Oct 2009, 10:42 am, edited 1 time in total.

'an' is only used if the word after it starts with a vowel(a,e,i,o,u), othewise, use 'a'. This is ONE thing I did remember from school

So, I think it all come down to is when you see NT do you actually say, entee or neurotypical in your mind.

huh, now I wonder how many just say entee. xD

I shall start a new poll! *trumpet fanfare*

Yes. But the rule is not just about the printed letter. You must include words that have an implied vowel sound, which is what this discussion is about. When you say "NT", pronounced "en-tee", you are making a vowel sound: "e" as in "end". So, you use the article "an". If you actually say the whole word "neurotypical", there is no vowel sound on the front of the letter n, so you use the article "a". That's it.

To heck with the "rules". It is common sense.

It is awkward to say "a apple". "An apple" flows more smoothly.
A house, an apple, a dog, an orange.

I know the English insist on "an hotel" which is awkward.

The height of "correct stupidity" was in the book "The Enchanted Castle" where the author insisted in talking about "an good hotel"

I say "an NT".