Send a SMS in this format to 77862 using your registered Singapore mobile number with UOB in either Promotion Period.
Shouldn’t it be “an SMS” instead?
Thanks.
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Yes, definitely.
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I agree with Arinker. Since you pronounce ‘s’ as ‘es’ - in phonetics [ɛs] - , thus starting with a vowel sound, you have to use the indefinite article a + n = an.
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Yes, it should be ‘an SMS’.
The choice of ‘a’ or ‘an’ is determined by the sound with which the word before which the non-definite article is to be placed begins.
If it begins with a consonant sound, choose ‘a’ and if it begins with a vowel sound, choose ‘an’.
It is the sound and the letter that matters. See some examples below:
An hour but a half.
An MP but a Member of Parliament.
An umbrella but a union
An Italian but a European.
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And hence Ariadne gave Theseus a thread. Luckily, he doesn’t have to find his way back out of this labyrinth of words. I’d rather defy the Minotaur. Far less tiring than steamrolling through this one.
Extremely complicated for the intermediate learner who will certainly be led astray when reading this.
Goodness, gracious, what is going on? Pedagogically irresponsible.
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I don’t think my explanation is inadequate for any irresponsible pedagogue!
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First of all, I wasn’t speaking about people and secondly, as your explanation stands there, it certainly would lead students of elementary, intermediate and even advanced readers of English astray, unless you’d rephrase it and make it simpler. The great academic is known for his clear explanations to people of all ages. Meaning, the teacher has to adjust to which level his public has reached, so he knows what words they do and don’t understand, if he wants them to reach another level. Otherwise, they will learn NOTHING and will only remember a lot of babble and perhaps have nightmares about English classes later in life.
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