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"an usable" is a common category of mistake from non native English speakers that I see frequently and I don't judge for it.

Often I find myself trying to politely explain the rule. The "n" appears when there is a phonetic vowel next, not necessarily a written one. The first letter of usable is a vowel in spelling but phonetically it starts with a consonant, the international phonetic alphabet for it is /ju/, starting with the consonant [j].

Similar things happen with abbreviations. You get prescribed "an SSRI" and not "a SSRI" because "S" there is pronounced "es", starting with a vowel.

Strangely enough I find when I over explain like this about this specific topic, people thank me. Maybe since I'm way off topic I'll get crap for it here.



Yeah, no thanks from me. If you read the actual page title, and reread my comment, you'll see why.


Oh, sorry. I guess I see this so much online from the English as a second language crowd that this is what I assumed it was.




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