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[Caml-list] "a 'a list" or "an 'a list"
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| Date: | -- (:) |
| From: | Sven Luther <sven.luther@w...> |
| Subject: | Re: [Caml-list] "a 'a list" or "an 'a list" |
On Sat, Aug 07, 2004 at 03:46:56PM -0700, don groves wrote: > At 14:39 8/7/2004, Brian Hurt wrote: > > >>From one of the many pendants-R-us discussion forums I'm on, this question > >came up: which is grammatically correct: "a 'a list", or "an 'a list", > >when discussing Ocaml types in english? Is there a standard (de-facto or > >de-jure) or just whatever sounds right to the ear of the writter? > > > >To the french reading this discussion: please remember that English as a > >language not only borrows words from other languages, it often lures > >unsuspecting languages down dark alleys, hits them over the head with a > >lead pipe, and rifles through their pockets for loose grammar. > > > And yet, it has become our international standard. So much for superior > human intelligence. > > It is "an" whenever the following word begins with a vowel or vowel sound > (such as 'an historical event') Notice that the rest of the rules seem to say that if the second letter of the word is then a 'n' again, you don't say an, but a. (a anecdote, and not an anectode). Not fully sure of this rule though, but in this case would you then write : a 'a nupplet ? Friendly, Sven Luther ------------------- To unsubscribe, mail caml-list-request@inria.fr Archives: http://caml.inria.fr Bug reports: http://caml.inria.fr/bin/caml-bugs FAQ: http://caml.inria.fr/FAQ/ Beginner's list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ocaml_beginners