I stumbled upon the latter use recently, and it got me thinking.
There seems to be some exceptions to the simple rule that I still
use when deciding on "a" or "an"...
If you go by the word "decrease", the "a 80% decrease" would be
correct, but should you really dismiss the preceding "eighty"?
Why? Because it's not a word, but a number?
I go by the first letter of the first word after the prefix.
Except for certain words, where the letter makes a "vocal
sound", instead of a "vowel sound". (What is the proper term
for this, incidentally?)
These are some examples of what I would use. Am I wrong anywhere?:
An 80% decrease
A 50% increase
A door
An office door
A herd
An herb (because the h is mute)
An orange
A yellow orange
A boat
An orange boat
.... Anyone have some fun or interesting examples in this exercise?
Or some links for simplified rules on the matter?
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