"A" vs. "An" in writing vs. pronunciation

Question

When starting a word with a vowel, the preceding "a" becomes an "an". I often find that when writing words that start with letter "N" or "M", I will pronounce them "EN", "EM", etc. (This is because in programming, letters are often pronounced in certain terms.)

So, when writing a question on SO, do I write "an NSString" or, "a NSString"?

A borderline dupe of An or A with acronyms which sound like they start with a vowel?, an SQA or a SQA?, and Do you use “a” or “an” before acronyms?. I am inclined to vote to close. — RegDwigнt, Nov 12 '10 at 10:12
I've added my close vote as well, although I think Dusty's answer below is better than those received by either of the two questions this duplicates. — Marthaª, Nov 12 '10 at 15:11
@Martha: Dusty's answer will survive. Closed doesn't mean "off-topic" or "will be deleted", it simply means "not accepting further answers". See this meta question. — RegDwigнt, Nov 12 '10 at 16:37
This falls under "borderline dupe". While the topic of the question is the same, the question itself is different. Close? Puleez. — Moshe, Nov 12 '10 at 17:40

score 29 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 12 '10 at 07:20

The choice of a vs. an is actually based on the phonetics of the start of a word, not the orthographic representation. This is why you say things like an honorable solider (the h is silent, so phonetically it begins with the vowel sound). Similarly, you would say a one-eyed pirate as one phonetically begins with the w sound.

So in the case of your example, it would be an NSString since phonetically it's en-es-string.

"A" vs. "An" in writing vs. pronunciation

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