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Background

From what I’ve learned during grade school, information which can easily be found online, you should use an when the following word starts with a vowel:

  • "An animal"
  • "An alien"
  • "An ewok"

And a when the following noun starts with a consonant:

  • "A car"
  • "A radio"
  • "A xylophone"

Following these rules seem to ease how we pronounce things. If I reversed the rules and tried saying An xylophone, or a alien, I seem to struggle more than if following the rules.

Confusion

When pronouncing the acronym LEA, short-hand for Local Educational Agency Representative, myself and my peers would use "an", such as:

  • "Do you have an LEA?"
  • "An LEA is required for that."

I’m not sure if this is specific to acronyms, since a LEA may be ambiguous:

  • a LEA
  • ALEA

However, I’ve seen/used acronyms following an a without issue:

  • a PHP file exists in the system

Question

Would saying an LEA be improper? Is there a documented reason for why this rule complicates how we pronounce our words?

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  • 3
    No, it's fine, and your intuitions are all correct. It's just the rules they taught you. They didn't tell you in grade school that the a/an rule is about pronounced vowels and consonants, instead of vowel and consonant letters. The acronym LEA is pronounced /ɛliye/ "Ellie-ay", and that starts with a vowel. Real grammar rules never have to do with spelling -- only pronunciation. The reason's very simple. Children learn the a/an rule long before they learn letters, so they can trust their intuition; but teachers tend to think everything about letters and spelling.
    – John Lawler
    Aug 7, 2019 at 22:31
  • @JohnLawler Not just children. Weren't most grammar rules developed in the days before most people could read and write?
    – Barmar
    Aug 7, 2019 at 22:34
  • 2
    Children are native speakers. Adults who learn the language later are not. Real grammar rules are made and followed by native speakers. Adults may tell children what they call "grammar rules", but they're just things the adults find more pleasant -- not grammar. And not always (or even often) correct. This SE is full of questions and answers prompted by the execrable "grammar rules" inflicted on students (native and non-native speakers) by English teachers and textbooks.
    – John Lawler
    Aug 7, 2019 at 22:40
  • The page you linked to in the question clearly states that "a" or "an" are used depending on whether the next word starts with a consonant or vowel sound, regardless of actual spelling. It explicitly says that the same thing applies to acronyms and initialisms.
    – nnnnnn
    Aug 8, 2019 at 1:37
  • The reason it is easier is because sandhi exists to make it so. :)
    – tchrist ♦
    Aug 8, 2019 at 2:42

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In comments, John Lawler wrote:

No, it's fine, and your intuitions are all correct. It's just the rules they taught you. They didn't tell you in grade school that the a/an rule is about pronounced vowels and consonants, instead of vowel and consonant letters. The acronym LEA is pronounced /ɛliye/ "Ellie-ay", and that starts with a vowel. Real grammar rules never have to do with spelling -- only pronunciation. The reason's very simple. Children learn the a/an rule long before they learn letters, so they can trust their intuition; but teachers tend to think everything about letters and spelling.

Children are native speakers. Adults who learn the language later are not. Real grammar rules are made and followed by native speakers. Adults may tell children what they call "grammar rules", but they're just things the adults find more pleasant -- not grammar. And not always (or even often) correct. This SE is full of questions and answers prompted by the execrable "grammar rules" inflicted on students (native and non-native speakers) by English teachers and textbooks.

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