Is it 'a usual' or 'an usual'? Why?

Question

is it 'a usual' or 'an usual'? 'A usual' sounds more correct in my head ('Today was a usual day.') than 'an usual', but u is a vowel. Which one is correct and why?

Answer 1

Usual (pronounced /ˈjuː.ʒu.əl/ as in you) begins with a consonant sound and, as such, it should be preceded by a not an.

As an aside, I cannot help but point out that the sentence

Today was a usual day

is not usually heard in regular conversation.

Today was an unusual day

is what one might hear, instead!

Indeed, I rarely hear the construction a usual. The definite article is more commonly used, in my experience:

That's the usual thing.

In place of a usual, one would also be more likely to hear not an unusual:

• Today was a usual day / Today was not an unusual day
• This is a usual occurrence / This is not an unusal occurrence or This usually happens

You are right in saying that a usual sounds weird. As speakers, we tend to avoid constructions which, though correct, do not flow easily from the mouth. In sum, the following are valid and commonly used alternatives:

not [an] unusual • the usual • usually

Answer 2

I believe the usage depends on what the word sounds like it starts with. For example, "an homage," since the "h" is not pronounced.

I was going to say that "since 'usual' sounds like it starts with 'y', you'd use 'a' instead of 'an.'" But then - is y a vowel or a consonant? :)

Answer 3

As Jimi Oke points out, it doesn't matter what letter the word starts with, but what sound it starts with. Since "usual" starts with a 'y' sound, it should take 'a' instead of 'an'.

Also, If you say "today was an usual day", unless your pronunciation is extremely clear, you risk being misunderstood as "today was unusual day", which will only confuse your listeners.

Answer 4

The technical definitions are: open vowel sounds or closed vowel sounds. All open vowel sounds such as, orange, envelope and image require the article "an" to bridge the two open sounds. Closed vowel sounds typically start with an unwritten "yu" consonant such as "a university" or "a united Europe, a Europe which is united" and therefore use the more common "a" article. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/