Look at the sentences below:<\/p>\n
Mary bought a<\/strong> book. Both words in bold above mean “one” but what is the difference between the two? Do you ever wonder why sometimes a<\/strong><\/em> is used and other times an<\/strong><\/em> is used?<\/p>\n It’s simple. Here is the explanation. We use an<\/strong><\/em> when the following word starts with a vowel<\/strong><\/em> and a<\/strong><\/em> when the following word starts with a\u00a0consonant<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n So what is a vowel and what is a consonant? The English alphabet has five vowels<\/strong>, they are: a e i o u<\/strong>. All other letters in the English alphabet are called consonants.<\/strong><\/p>\n Here are some examples of how to use a<\/strong><\/em> and an<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n I bought a b<\/strong>ook. (Following word starts with consonant)<\/p>\n
\nJohn ate an<\/strong> apple.<\/p>\n