[Grammar] is an US$80 million or a US$80 million

[etc128]

Hi Teachers,

We use "a" but not "an" for unicorn and uniform.

US$ means United States Dollar.

Due to the "united", we should use "a" instead or "an", right?

Why is it, I read a news article stating "an US$80 million" but not "a US$80million"?

Please advise.

Thank you.

 

[MikeNewYork]

I would use "a" if an article is needed at all. That would depend on context.

 

[bhaisahab]

"An $80 million dollar..." is correct. The "US" is just denoting that it is American rather than,say, Canadian or Australian dollars.

 

[MikeNewYork]

That depends on whether or not it is pronounced. This is guided by pronunciation.

 

[bhaisahab]

That depends on whether or not it is pronounced. This is guided by pronunciation.

In speech, yes. This was written in a news article.

 

[MikeNewYork]

I would agree if it were written $80 million US.

 

[Roman55]

I am not a teacher.

This is an interesting point.

I naturally read 'an US$80 million...' as 'an eighty million dollar...'.

Couldn't it be assumed that the writer of the article had that in mind too? If he wanted people to read 'a US dollar eighty million...' he would have used 'a'.

 

[emsr2d2]

I would like to see the entire sentence in which it appeared.

 

[Tdol]

Why is it, I read a news article stating "an US$80 million" but not "a US$80million"?

Do you have a link for this?

News articles are far from perfect in terms of details like this as they are creating articles at speed.

 

[etc128]

 

[emsr2d2]

I don't know about anyone else but I couldn't read anything on that, even when I enlarged it.

etc128, can you please type the relevant sentence into a post?