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How to articulate abbreviated words when the original word articulation conflicts the pronunciation of the word?

For example, I would say

A Facebook campaign for Donald Trump

But abbreviating Facebook to FB makes it difficult to keep the articulation intact

A FB campaign for Donald Trump

or

An FB campaign for Donald Trump

Which one is correct?

Second one seems easier to read

Salim Djerbouh
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  • I'm not aware of any rule about it, but in speech I would go by the sound of the spoken letter (so, 'an FB'). – Kate Bunting Nov 04 '19 at 13:17
  • In cases where the result is different I tend to choose the article to match how I say it or want it to be said. If I want it read as "eff-bee" then I'll use "an" if I want it to be read as "Facebook" I'll use "a". Of course, if I really wanted it to be read as "Facebook" I'd just write "Facebook". – Jim Nov 04 '19 at 16:01
  • Questions very like this have been asked before; the consensus seems to be that it depends on how the abbreviation is pronounced: you write "an FB" if you'd spell it out when spoken (saying "an eff bee"). https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1016/do-you-use-a-or-an-before-acronyms-initialisms – Stuart F Nov 04 '19 at 16:47
  • Yeah! that answers my question, thank you, should I flag this as a duplicate or delete it all together? – Salim Djerbouh Nov 04 '19 at 17:05
  • It's based on pronunciation. Do you say an eff bee or do you say a fib? – Jason Bassford Nov 06 '19 at 02:53

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