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Style Guide for Business Writing
book

Style Guide for Business Writing

by Michael C. Thomsett
April 2018
Beginner
390 pages
8h 16m
English
De Gruyter
Content preview from Style Guide for Business Writing

A

A or an

As a general rule, use “A” when the following word starts with a consonant, and “an” when it starts with a vowel.

Examples:

A man

A woman

A bus

An elephant

An octopus

There are exceptions. Some consonants have a vowel sound and are preceded by ‘an’:

Examples:

An hour

An honor

An herb

An MBA

Some vowel-starting words have a “y” or “w’ sound and are preceded by ‘a’:

A Utopian ideal

A one-time event

In summary, it is the sound of the word following the article that determines which to use, rather than the actual letter.

Abbreviation

An abbreviation is a form of shorthand, enabling readers to understand the meaning of a word or phrase without needing to see it written out in full. Abbreviations may take the form of letters to represent ...

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9781547400232