Articles, acronyms and initialisms — use “a” or “an”?
Writing for Business
| Which is correct? ___ USB drive offers a lot of advantages over older portable storage devices. a. a b. an |
Answer: a
Explanation: Although USB starts with a vowel, you pronounce the letters — You-Ess-Bee. Because the first sound is a Y, rather than a U, the correct article to use is the one that goes before a consonant, a. If USB were pronounced as a word — as uzzbee, for example — an would be the right article to use. (But it isn’t — too bad, because we don’t have nearly enough funny words in IT.)
