A, An, or The quize...

[Chizu]

I took the A, An, or The quizes and I missed couple of questions and could not find a solution to it. Well, here's my question:

why A European but not An?
A Union but not An?
A ewe but not An?

 

[welldone]

Becuase the pronunciation of first syllabus in "European" is not vowel, although the word starts with a vowel letter (E).

That's tricky, huh?

Same case for others.

 

[welldone]

Oops, sorry it should be "the first syllable".
Man, I was so into the thought of checking my syllabus to make sure everything is correct, hah!

 

[Susie Smith]

Oops, sorry it should be "the first syllable".
Man, I was so into the thought of checking my syllabus to make sure everything is correct, hah!

This kind of mistake is common because the rule is often incorrectly taught. Use "a" before consonant sounds and "an" before vowel sounds.

a university, a ukulele
an hour, an honest man