Hello. In this sentence: "He is an expert in business administration having got his MBA in a UK university" please can you tell me why it uses 'a' and not 'an'. Thank you very much.

Yours sincerely Sang, Hong Kong.

In Quanda this week we answer a question about the use of two small words – a and an. These words go before countable nouns, these are objects that can be counted. For example, a cat or a car. However if the word begins with a vowel letter – a,e,i,o,u – we use an instead of a. For example, an umbrella.

However there are exceptions to the rule such as in the example Sang sent us.

Receiving a or an MBA certificate?

Whether or not we use a or an depends on how the countable noun is pronounced not how it is spelt. Join Rob and Fei Fei in Question and Answer of the Week to hear some more examples.