Discussion Forum—A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language

This topic has come up a few times before, so know that you are in very good company in asking your questions.

The problem here is that it is not the SPELLING that determines the use of “a” and “an”; it is the sound. You will never go wrong if you use your ear. So, a word that starts with a vowel SOUND will take “an” but a word that starts with a consonant SOUND will take “a.” For the purposes of sound, the “y” sound counts as a consonant. The same rule applies to the pronunciation of “the” as “thee.”

So:
“a house,” “a huge house,” “a unique house,” “a used house,” “an unused house,” "an hour," etc.
“the (thuh) house,” “the (thuh) huge house,” … “the (thee) unused house, "the (thee) hour"

Also when using acronyms such as FBI or SEC or NBC (which start with vowel sounds) or UFO (which starts with a consonant sound)
So:
“an FBI agent,” “an SEC investigation,” “an NBC broadcast,” “a UFO sighting”

Having said this, there are a few unique circumstances in which you may notice people do not follow this rule. (You can even find *”an cat” and *”an dog” lots if you search the internet.) But it is safe to say that following the rule is preferred by the majority for all practical, standard use.

Regarding "the" there is another exception. For emphasis, the word "the" is sometimes pronounced "thee" to emphasize uniqueness. The American Heritage dictionary puts it this way:

The pronunciation of this word changes according to the sound that immediately follows it. Generally, before a consonant, the is pronounced /thuh/, as in the ball, the one, the school; before a vowel, the is often pronounced /thee/ or /thih/, as in the apple, the hour, the opening; and when stressed for emphasis the is pronounced /thee/, as in This is the place to live.

In some dialects, the "y" sound may be pronou
I hope this helps.

I didn't quite get this out, but in some dialects “the” before the “y” sound can be pronounced /thuh/ or /thee/ or /thih/ I think mostly because of the influence of the “y” sound following.

So “the yellow dress” could be /thuh/ yellow dress, /thee/ yellow dress, or /thih/ yellow dress. Good thing we don't alter the spelling of “the”!

Pronuncing the as THEE for emphasis really bugs me for some reason. In some instances it works: "You met Michael Jackson? THEE Michael Jackson?" But in others the emphasis just doesn't make sense to me. "He was THEE most successful salesman." I would emphasize most. After all, the objective of that sentence was to emphasize that he was the MOST successful. What happens with THE is kind of irrelevant, isn't it?