Re: "a" versus "an" with an acronym

[Joe Miller <joemiller -at- CANBERRA -dot- COM>]

Hillary,

>I'm creating documents which contain the commonly-used (in my field)
>acronym, "MSDS" (for Material Safety Data Sheet).
>
>In referring to the MSDS, should I use "an MSDS" or "a MSDS".
>

I've got the same problem:  do I refer to "an NaI' detector or "a NaI" detector.

If you read NaI as a morpheme, it's obviously "an NaI".  If, on the other
hand, you read NaI as sodium iodide, then "a NaI" is correct.  It's very
like the Brit/American way of looking at collective nouns.  The Brits
say "Parliament are" and the Americans say "Congress is".  Neither is
more (or less) correct than the other.

Your choice, and the reader's, depends on how you interpret the
construction.  And whichever one you choose, some readers will still
stumble over it, thinking of the construction as the opposite of
your choice.

In short, there's no definitive answer.  Choose one and stick with it
(if you can <g>).

--Joe
joemiller -at- canberra -dot- com

Posts: mailto:techwr-l -at- listserv -dot- okstate -dot- edu
Commands: mailto:listserv -at- listserv -dot- okstate -dot- edu (e.g. SIGNOFF TECHWR-L)
Archives: http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html,
	http://www.documentation.com/, or http://www.dejanews.com/
Subjects: JOB:, QUESTION:, SUMMARY:, ANNOUNCE:, or none of these.