An MP or A MP ?

[Quick.Keen.Learner]

I'm confused between vowel and consonant sound and articles, whether if "An MP" is correct or "A MP" whereas,"A MP" doesn't sound correct,right? Anyone could help me please ASAP?

 

[5jj]

An MP. The letter M begins with a vowel sound.

 

[emsr2d2]

An MP. The first letter of a word after an indefinite article is not what we consider, it's the sound. When you say M aloud, it sounds like "em". The first sound of that is a vowel sound - e.

 

[Quick.Keen.Learner]

Aha,thank you.

 

[Quick.Keen.Learner]

An MP. The first letter of a word after an indefinite article is not what we consider, it's the sound. When you say M aloud, it sounds like "em". The first sound of that is a vowel sound - e.

yeah right that. Got it now. thanks.

 

[Rover_KE]

Your appreciation is welcome, QKL but there is no need to write two new posts to say thank you or to quote our replies back to us.

Simply click the Like button on any posts you find helpful. It means that we don't have to open the thread again to read your new post and then find that it doesn't include any new information or an additional question.​

 

[Yiagos]

We live and learn

as ancient Greek philosophers said.
Honestly I did not know this!
All acronyms which prounounced as vowel starting words we have to use them with an.
By the way, MP means Militarity Police, member of Parliament?

 

[MikeNewYork]

Re: We live and learn

as ancient Greek philosophers said.
Honestly I did not know this!
All acronyms which prounounced as vowel starting words we have to use them with an.
By the way, MP means Militarity Police, member of Parliament?

It is not just acronyms. In BrE. the word "herb" has a pronounced "h" at the beginning -- so it is "a herb". In AmE, the "h" is silent -- so it is "an herb".

 

[emsr2d2]

Re: We live and learn

As ancient Greek philosophers said (no full stop here), "Honestly I did not know this!"
All acronyms which [strike]prounounced as vowel starting words we have to use them with an[/strike] start with a vowel sound must be preceded by "an".
By the way, does MP [strike]means[/strike] mean [strike]Militarity[/strike] Military Police or Member of Parliament?

Please see my corrections to your post in red.

The acronym "MP" can mean Military Police or Member of Parliament, and probably many other things. However, the original post, it is unlikely to mean "Military Police" because we don't use that in the singular so it wouldn't be preceded by the indefinite article. It would be "a member of the Military Police" or perhaps "an MP officer" but not just "an MP".

 

[Rover_KE]

Re: We live and learn

How did the title of this thread get changed, ems?

 

[emsr2d2]

Re: We live and learn

How did the title of this thread get changed, ems?

I haven't the faintest idea. I hadn't noticed that it had until you posted that question. :?: Maybe someone merged two threads but I didn't know that two titles could appear in the same thread.

 

[5jj]

Re: We live and learn

MP isn't an acronym.

 

[emsr2d2]

Re: We live and learn

MP isn't an acronym.

Well pointed out.

 

[Yiagos]

Thus what is MP?
A compound word?
I am confused...

 

[5jj]

It's just an abbreviation.

 

[MikeNewYork]

Thus what is MP?
A compound word?
I am confused...

An acronym is a string of letters (usually the first letters of a string of words) that are pronounced as a word, such as NATO. When a string of initial letters is pronounced as the letters themselves, such as IBM, it is sometimes called an "initialism".

 

[SoothingDave]

They are all TLAs to me.

 

[Yiagos]

I am reading Longman's dictionary of common errors

and the first example is My husband is doing an MSc in civil engineering.

Thus we have to use an (NOT a) before an abbreviation that begins with a vowel sound

 

[MikeNewYork]

Re: I am reading Longman's dictionary of common errors

and the first example is My husband is doing an MSc in civil engineering.

Thus we have to use an (NOT a) before an abbreviation that begins with a vowel sound

That is correct.