Kai,
The rule is if a word starts with a vowel then it is preceded by 'an' - if it
starts with a consonant then it is preceded by and 'a'. Technically, the
issue is that MG is an acronym for Morris Garage and Morris does not start
with a vowel - thus you would use 'a' not 'an'. However, the problem you are
having (and you are not alone) is that the pronunciation of the letter 'M' in
'MG' sounds like it starts with a vowel (the phonetic spelling of MG is
'emmgee'). So while you might be tempted to use an 'an' (as in 'I have an
emmgee') it would be inappropriate because we do not phonetically spell
acronyms - they are spelled using the letters of the words they represent
('MG' is spelled mg)!!! This is not uncommon and usually happens with
acronyms that start with the 'e' sounding consonants as in F which is
pronounced 'eff', M 'emm', N 'enn', S 'ess' and X 'ex'. In fact most of us
have probably found ourselves using an 'an' in front of MG in casual
conversation - again, it's because 'M' sound like it starts with vowel- in the
future, when tempted to put an 'an' in front of a vowel sounding acronym -
spell it out the acronym's first word as in "I have a MorrisG car" - it's
correct, will sound right with some practice and will keep your teacher from
mooing all over the place!!!
So much for those bilabial fricatives (or whatever they are called).
BTW, I've very impressed that such an off topic topic can be so full of MG
content - Good Job Kai!!!
Dr. Doug
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-mgs@autox.team.net On Behalf Of Kai Radicke
Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 1997 4:50 PM
To: MG List
Subject: MG/Grammar
OK, I have a really stupid question...
my English teacher was having a cow (or a Triumph) about me using "an MG"
in a sentence I wrote. I don't think I have ever seen "a MG" in my life,
it just sounds dumb. My teacher does have a point, but anyone know why we
do this?
ex:
a Morris Minor
an MGB
now say it in a sentence:
I have a Morris Minor.
I have an Morris Minor.
I have an MGB.
I have a MGB.
Am I going insane? Or do I just need a life ;-)
Cheers,
Kai
Kai Radicke -- mowogmg@pil.net, 1966 MGB @ http://www.pil.net/~mowogmg
Dialogue Internet - Intelligent Internet Solutions (Net Khan)
IRC: irc.mcs.net, #inet-access (my nick: ActiveX or KMR)
|