English 路 Chapter 1 路 Lesson 9 路 Grammar primer
A, an and the
When to use a, an and the - the small words English learners get wrong most often.
The short version
A or an depends on sound, not spelling
Learners choose between a and an by looking at the first letter. English chooses by the first sound. University starts with a you sound, which is a consonant sound, so it takes a. Hour starts with a vowel sound because the h is silent, so it takes an. Say the word out loud and listen.
It is a university.
That's the gist. The full article goes deeper - more examples, the edge cases, the why - and the practice below scores like a vocabulary session and earns the same XP.
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One question at a time, mixed across the exercises in this lesson. Miss one and it comes back round before the end. There are 24 in all: practise more afterwards if you want them.
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Lesson 9 of 35 in this chapter