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My original sentence was:

... an array of ...

However I decided I wanted to elaborate on this, as "(traditionally two-dimensional) array".

We usually use parentheses for extra detail not necessary to the sentence, that the reader could safely ignore. With that in mind, for which reader to I optimise 'an'/'a'?

... a (traditionally two-dimensional) array

or

... an (traditionally two-dimensional) array

My immediate thought was to 'work around' it - perhaps using 'original' instead of 'traditional', or taking the clause out of parentheses.

However even if I end up doing that for readability, I should be interested in your answers to what I consider to be quite a (interesting) predicament.

OJFord
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  • @AndrewLeach It certainly is! Thank you. Interestingly though, MS Word favours matching the statement following the parentheses. – OJFord Mar 14 '14 at 18:21
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    @Ollie: Google mail suggests I may have forgotten to add an attachment if I happen to have used the word "attached" in my email text. Sometimes software guesses right, sometimes not. But MS Word "style alerts" are only intended to let you know that you might want to check something yourself. I wouldn't begin to consider anything like that as a "guide" to correct usage. – FumbleFingers Mar 14 '14 at 18:30
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    The use of a/an is conditioned, solely and entirely, in each case, with every word, written or spoken, punctuated or unpunctuated, by the *pronunciation* of the next pronounced word. If it's pronounced with a vowel at the beginning, use an; if it's pronounced with a consonant at the beginning, use a. That is all. Pay no attention to MS Word. MS Word has no idea what's really going on. – John Lawler Mar 14 '14 at 18:53

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As John Lawler says, it's purely a matter of pronunciation. It doesn't matter whether what intervenes between the indefinite article and the noun is in brackets or not. It's "an" in "an egg", but not in "a boiled egg". It's the word right next to the indefinite article that determines whether it's "a" or "an".

What I'm slightly intrigued by is your use of the term "traditional". Arrays can be two-dimensional or multi-dimensional. I'm not aware the first kind is "traditional". And I don't see why your brackets are necessary at all.

Terpsichore
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