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Subject:Re: Articles with Initialisms From:Beverly Parks <bparks -at- HUACHUCA-EMH2 -dot- ARMY -dot- MIL> Date:Fri, 23 Feb 1996 07:26:18 MST
> Folks, the article before an initialism such as SME should match the
> "sound" of the first pronounced letter. As I am sure all of us know, a
> vowel sound calls for the article "an." Thus we should write AN SME
> (ess begins with a vowel sound) and AN ESLer (ee begins with a vowel
> sound).
Dan, you are absolutely correct. The problem, however,
especially with SME, is that not everyone says it the same way.
As you do, I say "ess-em-eee", so would naturally write "an
SME". Other people pronounce it as "smee", so they naturally
write "a SME".
Side note: Since I've been subscribed to this list, I find
myself thinking "smee" more often when I see those letters
"SME". You folks have quite an influence. 8-)
Bev
=*= Beverly Parks -- bparks -at- huachuca-emh2 -dot- army -dot- mil =*=
