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Index A
- a
- a- (1)
- a- (2)
- AB
- ab-
- abbreviations: acronyms and initialisms
- abbreviations: ampersand
- abbreviations: business terms and symbols
- abbreviations: capitals and hyphens
- abbreviations: corporate names
- abbreviations: days and months
- abbreviations: degrees and distinctions
- abbreviations: general guidelines
- abbreviations: geographical names
- abbreviations: imperial system
- abbreviations: International System of Units (SI)
- abbreviations: latitude and longitude
- abbreviations: military abbreviations
- abbreviations: monetary units
- abbreviations: netspeak
- abbreviations: number symbols
- abbreviations: parts of a book or document
- abbreviations: periods
- abbreviations: plurals
- abbreviations: scientific and technical terms
- abbreviations: time zones
- abbreviations: titles with personal names
- abeyance
- abide
- abide by
- about
- above-mentioned
- abreast
- absolutely essential
- absolute phrases
- abstain
- abstain from
- abstain in
- abstain on
- accede to
- accordance
- according to
- according to our records
- accord (of one’s own)
- accountable for
- accountable to
- accuracy
- accurate
- acquiesce in
- acquiesce to
- acquiesce with
- action verbs
- active voice
- act on
- act upon
- acu-
- addresses: official languages
- addresses on envelopes and parcels (Linguistic recommendation from the Translation Bureau)
- adequate amount of
- adequate number of
- adjective
- adjective clause
- adjective comparison
- ADT
- adverb clause
- adverb comparison
- adverbs
- adverse
- adverse to
- advice
- advise
- aero-
- a few
- affect
- Afghan
- afghani
- aforementioned
- Afro-
- after
- again
- ageing
- agenda
- agendas
- aggravate
- aging
- agreeable
- agree on
- agree to
- agree with
- agro-
- Alberta
- Albertan
- alliteration
- allo-
- all over again
- allow for
- allow to
- all ready
- all right
- all-time record
- all together
- allude
- allusion
- almost without exception
- along these lines
- already
- alright
- Alta.
- alternate(ly)
- alternative(ly)
- altogether
- alumna
- alumnus
- a.m.
- a mari usque ad mare
- ambi-
- American dollar (symbol) (Linguistic recommendation from the Translation Bureau)
- Americo-
- amount
- an-
- an
- an abundance of
- analyse
- analyze
- and
- and/or
- and so as a result
- Anglo-
- Anglophone
- anniversary
- answer for
- answer to
- ante-
- anti-
- anticipate
- anxious about
- anxious at
- anxious for
- anxious to
- any
- apostrophe: contractions
- apostrophe: plurals
- apostrophe: possession
- apparent
- appear
- appositives
- appraise
- apprise
- approval of
- approval to
- approve
- approve of
- approximately
- approximately about
- apt
- aqua-
- aqui-
- Arabo-
- arch-
- Armeno-
- Armistice Day
- around (1)
- around (2)
- as a consequence of
- as a matter of fact
- as a result of
- as a result of the fact that
- ascend
- ascent
- as far as
- aspire after
- aspire to
- as regards
- assent
- associate to
- associate with
- as soon as
- assume
- assure
- AST
- asterisk at end of sentence
- astro-
- as well as
- Atlantic Daylight Time
- Atlantic provinces
- Atlantic Standard Time
- attention
- attentive
- attentiveness
- at that point in time
- at the present time
- at this point in time
- at variance among
- at variance with
- audit and derived terms (Linguistic recommendation from the Translation Bureau)
- Austro-
- authentic
- autumn
- auxiliary verbs
- avenge
- averse to
- avocation
- awards
- aware of
- Azerbaijani
- Azeri
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a, an
The decision to use a or an depends on the sound—not the spelling—of the word or abbreviation that follows.
Words
A is used before words that begin with a consonant sound. (In their written form, these words may begin either with a consonant or with a vowel that makes a consonant sound, such as eu, ou, or long u.)
- a book
- a cat
- a house
- a youth
- a European
- a ouananiche (pronounced waw-nuh-nĭsh)
- a use
An is used before words that begin with a vowel sound. (In their written form, these words may begin either with a vowel or with a silent h.)
- an apple
- an egg
- an iron
- an opal
- an umpire
- an ylang-ylang tree (pronounced ĭ-lang-ĭ-lang)
- an hour
- an heir
- an honourable person
Acronyms
The rule stated above for words also applies to acronyms, which are abbreviations pronounced as words:
- a NATO decision (a before the consonant sound n)
- a UNICEF project (a before the long u sound)
- an ACTRA award (an before the vowel sound ă)
Initialisms
In the case of initialisms, which are abbreviations pronounced letter by letter, you must go by the pronunciation of the first letter.
If the first letter begins with a consonant sound when pronounced, then choose the article a:
- a CBC production (starts with the sound s as in see)
- a PhD candidate (starts with the sound p as in pea)
- a UN spokesperson (starts with the sound y as in you)
- a YMCA (starts with the sound w as in why)
But if the first letter in the initialism starts with a vowel sound when pronounced, then choose the article an:
- an FM station (starts with the sound ĕ as in eff)
- an HIV treatment (starts with the sound ā as in aitch)
- an MP (starts with the sound ĕ as in em)
- an RCMP officer (starts with the sound ä as in ar)
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