Issue of the form of the article - "an" vs "a"

[black_velvet]

String theory is an research program within the context of quantum field theory.

Time and again I come across the “an” form of the indefinite article that, the rule says, should be used before a vowel while I actually see it before a word beginning with a consonant (as in the phrase above).
I dismissed it as a mistake earlier but as I see more and more occurrences of this, even in editions such as “The Times”, for instance (the citation is not from it, however) I begin to wonder – is there a point there?
May be it is some kind of very literary or old fashioned usage?

Thank you.

[MikeNewYork]

Originally Posted by black_velvet

Time and again I come across the “an” form of the indefinite article that, the rule says, should be used before a vowel while I actually see it before a word beginning with a consonant (as in the phrase above).
I dismissed it as a mistake earlier but as I see more and more occurrences of this, even in editions such as “The Times”, for instance (the citation is not from it, however) I begin to wonder – is there a point there?
May be it is some kind of very literary or old fashioned usage?

Thank you.

The sentence you started with is incorrect.

However, you may not completely understand the rule. Use a before words/abbreviations that begin with a consonant sound; use an before words/abbreviations that begin with a vowel sound. This is based on pronunciation, not spelling.

Hence:

a university
an hour
an ytterbium molecule
a yellow dog
a U
an M

[black_velvet]

Originally Posted by MikeNewYork

The sentence you started with is incorrect.

However, you may not completely understand the rule. Use a before words/abbreviations that begin with a consonant sound; use an before words/abbreviations that begin with a vowel sound. This is based on pronunciation, not spelling.

Hence:

a university
an hour
an ytterbium molecule
a yellow dog
a U
an M

Yeah, I know the rule I mean I have seen, more than once, the "an" used before a word with a consonant sound at the beginning of it, too!
And I remember seeing the an-form before words like 'house'
So it is a mistake after all?

[BobK]

Originally Posted by black_velvet

Yeah, I know the rule I mean I have seen, more than once, the "an" used before a word with a consonant sound at the beginning of it, too!
And I remember seeing the an-form before words like 'house'
So it is a mistake after all?

It's a mistake the source of which is - I suspect - traceable to editing. Maybe the text started life as 'String theory is an important/insignficant/AHRC research program within the context of quantum field theory.' When they deleted the qualifier, they didn't tidy up after themselves.

b

[MikeNewYork]

Originally Posted by black_velvet

Yeah, I know the rule I mean I have seen, more than once, the "an" used before a word with a consonant sound at the beginning of it, too!
And I remember seeing the an-form before words like 'house'
So it is a mistake after all?

Yes, then definitely a mistake.