If the vowels are A, E, I, O and U, and you're supposed to say the word "an" before them, how come no one says "an unicorn"? amirite?

Because it's based on the pronunciation of the word, not the vowel specifically. If it has a soft vowel sound at the beginning, then the correct word is an.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Darnit, You beat me to the punch, oh well, as long as the message was conveyed to those confused on this subject.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

you say an if it sounds like a vowel. for instance: an hour.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

While the rule is loosely based around vowels, it's actually based around phonetic sounds linked with vowels. The word unicorn in phonetics would start with a y sound, which is a consonant. This makes the sentence 'a unicorn'.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

everyone's right, unless the word is "hero," where you would then say "an hero"

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Except for the fact that the h is pronounced, so it therefore makes a vowel sound. So "a hero" has nothing wrong with it. You hear the h.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

lol i know. trust me, i'm not stupid, i was just making fun of this: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/an-hero

by Anonymous 13 years ago

It's not funny to make fun of a note someone posted about someone else killing themselves.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Who's making fun? He was such an hero, to take it all away. We miss him so, That you should know, And we honor him this day. He was an hero, to take that shot, to leave us all behind. God do we wish we could take it back, And now he’s on our minds. Mitchell was an hero, to leave us feeling like this, Our minds are rubber, our joints don’t work, Our tears fall into abyss. He was an hero, to take that shot, In life it wasn’t his task, He shouldn’t have had to go that way, before an decade’d past. Now he sits there in my heart, this hero of mine, Always there to make me smile, Make me feel just fine. He had courage,that boy did, courage in his heart. To take that shot, To end his pain, To tear us all apart. But in the end, he died in courage. Lacking, nevermore, He died a hero, Mitchell did, And we’ll love him forevermore. We love you like an brother. We miss you so much. We will always love you, kid. Rest In Peace Mitch

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Reading this made me feel like I was in English.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Because English is a screwed up language.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Thank you people for clearing up the ignorance of grammar on this post.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

It's like saying 'An STD.' Cause it sounds like an e starts it. 'A sexually transmitted disease.' same thing, only different sounding phonetics.(sp?) Just another example. :)

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Why is it that the first example you thought of was STD?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Cause I pondered this while in health class last year, haha.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Me and my friend have this as an inside joke! LOL! What a coinky-dink.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

because unicorn is a special super duper fantastic animal that doesnt need to follow the rules <3

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Exactly.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Unicorns don't exist

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Because unicorns are too awesome for grammar rules!

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Because they're not real.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

just cause they arent real doesnt mean you cant talk about them.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

My roommate is Puerto Rican and she tried telling me that Spanish was harder than English...yeah right

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Because the pronounciation is Yoonicorn.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Actually, you do always say an before a word that starts with a vowel. A vowel isn't a letter, it's a sound. A, E, I, O, and U are just letters that (usually) make vowel sounds. In Unicorn, the U makes a consonant sound first so you use A.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I completely agree, though I must say, unicorn sounds like it starts with a y and y's are sometimes vowels.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Phonetics, honey.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

uni is a prefix you noob

by Anonymous 13 years ago