2 ms·

I spotted several red flags in the title alone and I'm not even counting "an usable" that probably resulted from HN censoring "actually". The word "actually" i

• asveikau 3y ago
  "an usable" is a common category of mistake from non native English speakers that I see frequently and I don't judge for it. Often I find myself trying to politely explain the rule. The "n" appears when there is a phonetic vowel next, not necessarily a written one. The first letter of usable is a vowel in spelling but phonetically it starts with a consonant, the international phonetic alphabet for it is /ju/, starting with the consonant [j]. Similar things happen with abbreviations. You get prescribed "an SSRI" and not "a SSRI" because "S" there is pronounced "es", starting with a vowel. Strangely enough I find when I over explain like this about this specific topic, people thank me. Maybe since I'm way off topic I'll get crap for it here.
  • klyrs 3y ago
    Yeah, no thanks from me. If you read the actual page title, and reread my comment, you'll see why.
    • asveikau 3y ago
      Oh, sorry. I guess I see this so much online from the English as a second language crowd that this is what I assumed it was.