darknation Posted November 12, 2013 Can't quite figure this one out. Storm clouds gathered over Blair like drunks around a urinal. Now, technically this should be "around an urinal". But the 'u' in urinal has the value of 'yoo' (or 'yü' if you want to get ümlauty) and you don't put 'an' in front of 'yoo'. Or maybe you do. I don't know. Both ways I look at it, the sentence looks broken and incorrect. It is driving me fucking crazy. Someone tell me which version is correct. 0 Share this post Link to post
plums Posted November 12, 2013 darknation said:Now, technically this should be "around an urinal". But the 'u' in urinal has the value of 'yoo' (or 'yü' if you want to get ümlauty) and you don't put 'an' in front of 'yoo'. Or maybe you do. I don't know. Nope, you're correct, 'a' becomes 'an' based on the phonetic sound of the next word and not the actual spelling. So you get "a urinal," but also "an heirloom," and maybe even "an historic event" depending on your regional pronunciation. 0 Share this post Link to post
Gez Posted November 12, 2013 A youtube, a yourinal. That said, there's always the cheat of adding an adjective that doesn't start with a u. "... like drunks around a clogged urinal" or something. 0 Share this post Link to post
Kirby Posted November 12, 2013 I admit to thinking that the sentence could be improved upon, but it seems correct by grammatical means. "A" urinal is indeed the proper sounding grammatic. 0 Share this post Link to post
Dragonsbrethren Posted November 12, 2013 Someone told me you always write "a" when the word starts with a vowel, but I think they were an idiot. 0 Share this post Link to post
Obsidian Posted November 12, 2013 Gez said:yourinal New name for Youtube acquired. 0 Share this post Link to post
Quasar Posted November 12, 2013 Obsidian said:New name for Youtube acquired. 0 Share this post Link to post
Bucket Posted November 12, 2013 I would put a comma after "Blair"; it breaks up the sentence and makes it easier to digest. 0 Share this post Link to post
darknation Posted November 12, 2013 Yeah. Thanks. Bucket said:I would put a comma after "Blair"; it breaks up the sentence and makes it easier to digest. This is about the 17th iteration of this fucking sentence. It is, in context, now completely fucking perfect and absolutely should be left alone in the interest of getting another sentence done this week. 0 Share this post Link to post
durian Posted November 12, 2013 The sentence seems grammatically fine, but the simile strikes me as a little odd. I take it that the clouds are collectively - as in, all at the same time - gathering over the lone Blair. Do drunks make a habit of gathering around single urinals in this manner? 0 Share this post Link to post
Creaphis Posted November 12, 2013 If you're anything like me, don't edit anything until you've written it all. You'll second guess yourself forever. 0 Share this post Link to post