
A MAFF official came to stuff an MRSA outbreak.(The letter "R" is a consonant, but the initialism RTA is pronounced "ar-tee-ay," i.e., it starts with a vowel sound. Read more about "an" and "a" on the page about indefinite articles.īe particularly careful with abbreviations. ("Eunuch" and "one-off" both start with vowels but with consonant sounds.) Becoming a eunuch wasn't a one-off deal – it was a two-off deal.

Remember that you must use "a" (not "an") before a consonant sound.) (Even though "unique" and "unequivocal" start with the same letter (the same two letters in fact), "unique" starts with a consonant sound (Y) while "unequivocal" starts with a vowel sound.

This is how consonants differ from vowels. If you make any consonant sound, you will notice some obstruction of the breath from the lungs.

With respect to Modern English, Old English did not include J, U, and W.Here are some examples of how consonants are formed by obstructing the breath in the vocal tract.The Old English alphabet was recorded in the year 1011 by a monk named Byrhtferð and included the 24 letters of the Latin alphabet (including ampersand) and 5 additional English letters: Long S (ſ), Eth (Ð and ð), Thorn (þ), Wynn (ƿ) and Ash (ᚫ later Æ and æ).The Old English alphabet letters were 29: A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T V X Y Z & ⁊ Ƿ Þ Ð Æ.

