by Scooter on November 23rd, 2009

Scooter

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Do you say a endoscope or an endoscope?

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Answers. 8 helpful answers below.

  • by Stranger in a Strange Land on November 23rd, 2009

    Stranger in a Strange Land

    an endoscope. +4

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  • by urk on November 23rd, 2009

    urk

    an
    The word begins with a vowel.

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  • by PrivateGomerSpooner on November 23rd, 2009

    PrivateGomerSpooner

    An endoscope.

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  • by christ1 on November 23rd, 2009

    christ1

    an endoscope
    any word with sound startinf from a,e,i,o,u etc requires "an"
    for ex university spells as yuniversity
    so a university
    hour is spelt our
    so an hour

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  • by The Chief on November 23rd, 2009

    The Chief

    The rule for determining the use of "a" or "an" is PHONETIC, not a spelling rule.

    This means it's based on the SOUND of the word.

    If the word SOUNDS like it starts with a vowel sound, then you use "an".

    If the word SOUNDS like it starts with a consonant sound, then you use "a".

    Thus, "hotel" uses "a", because the word begins with a consonant sound.

    And "hour" uses "an", even though it starts with a consonant like hotel, because the "h" is silent.

    So, to answer your question, you would properly say "an endoscope".


    Now, that said, I'm sure you'll have run across the phrase "an historic", which goes counter to this phonetic rule.

    "A historic" is more common, but both are sufficiently common to be considered correct. Nobody really knows why "an historic" is used...one theory is that some regional dialects may pronounce "historic" with a silent "h".

    Some words of three syllables or more that start with "h" are simply treated differently than the phonetic rule implies.

    You will NOT go wrong by strictly applying the phonetic rule, though. Any exceptions to this rule are very rare, and in any case are almost exclusively limited to the phrase "an historic".

    http://www.english-zone.com/grammar/a-anlessn.html

    http://www.betterwritingskills.com/tip-w005.html

  • by Maggge on November 23rd, 2009

    Maggge

    An endoscope is the correct one hope you would have not forgotten the vowels [A E I O U]. So accordingly An is the apt one. Gotcha ??

    Lovingly Maggge.

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  • by -NUNYA-- on November 23rd, 2009

    -NUNYA--

    AN endoscope. +5 Scooter

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  • by I Am Gone on November 23rd, 2009

    I Am Gone

    An endoscope. Because endoscope starts with e and that is a vowel.

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