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The Chicago Manual of Style in 14.15 says that if the acronym is treated as
a series of letters, the choice of the article depends on the pronunciation
of the first letter: "an FSA" , "a BTU". If pronounced as a word, the
article is determined by the pronunciation of the word: "a NATO official"
vs. "an NSC directive".
steve arrants
Stephen Arrants
Manager of Technical Communications
ROI Direct.com
415.439.7551
www.roidirect.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff Hanvey [mailto:jewahe -at- yahoo -dot- com]
Sent: Wednesday, April 26, 2000 10:03 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: A or An?
I have a grammar question that has never been answered
satisfactorily:
Do you use a or an before an acronym that begins with
a consonant, such as
Fill out an FSA, or
Fill out a FSA.
The first seems correct to me, since "f" is spoken as
if it begins with a vowel.
