| 单词 | a, an |
| 例句 | a, an determiner USAGE a, an The indefinite article a is used before words beginning with a consonant sound, including /y/ and /w/ sounds. The other form, an, is used before words beginning with a vowel sound. Since the sound rather than the letter controls, it's not unusual to find a before a vowel or an before a consonant. Hence: a European country, a one-year term, an FBI agent, an MBA degree. The distinction between a and an was not solidified until the nineteenth century. Up to that time, an preceded most words beginning with a vowel, regardless of how the first syllable sounded. The U.S. Constitution, for example, reads: “The Congress shall have Power [...] To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization.” But that is no excuse for a twenty-first-century writer. People worry about whether the correct article is a or an with historian, historic, and a few other words. Most authorities have supported a over an. The traditional rule is that if the h- is sounded, then a is the proper form. So people who aspirate their h' s and follow that rule would say a historian and a historic. This is not a new “rule.” Even the venerated language authority H. W. Fowler, in the England of 1926, advocated a before historic, historical, and humble. A, in the distributive sense ( ten hours a day), has traditionally been considered preferable to per, which originated in commercialese and legalese. But per has muscled its way into idiomatic English in phrases such as 60 miles per hour and one golf cart per couple. Although an could be substituted for per in the first of those phrases, a wouldn't work well in the second.Usage notes show additional guidance on finer points of English usage. |
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英语同义词词典收录了14896条英语词条，基本涵盖了全部常用同义词或反义词的辨析及翻译，是英语学习的有利工具。