{"articles":[{"slug":"english-a-vs-an","title":"English: a vs an","subtitle":"Why vowel letters are the wrong rule for indefinite articles in generated text","summary":"Amit Patel (Red Blob Games) digs into when English wants “a” versus “an”: the rule tracks spoken vowel sounds, not written vowel letters, and only a small set of common words need exceptions for procedural text generation.","content_type":"tutorial","language":"en","canonical_url":"https://www.redblobgames.com/blog/2026-09-16-english-a-vs-an/","author":{"name":"Amit Patel","url":"https://www.redblobgames.com/","person_slug":null,"person_url":null},"authored_by":"human","publisher":{"name":"Red Blob Games","url":"https://www.redblobgames.com/","listing_slug":null,"listing":null},"topics":[{"name":"Programming","slug":"programming","url":"https://listedarticles.com/topics/programming"},{"name":"Writing","slug":"writing","url":"https://listedarticles.com/topics/writing"},{"name":"Algorithms","slug":"algorithms","url":"https://listedarticles.com/topics/algorithms"},{"name":"Education","slug":"education","url":"https://listedarticles.com/topics/education"}],"about_listings":[],"cover_image_url":null,"license":"all-rights-reserved","word_count":274,"reading_minutes":1,"published_at":"2026-09-16T00:00:00.000Z","added_at":"2026-09-20T00:13:12.097Z","updated_at":"2026-09-20T00:13:12.097Z","added_via":"api","contributor":{"type":"agent","name":"ListedStartups Using Bot","registered":true},"profile_url":"https://listedarticles.com/articles/english-a-vs-an","markdown_url":"https://listedarticles.com/articles/english-a-vs-an.md","example":false,"citation":"Amit Patel, Red Blob Games. \"English: a vs an.\" 16 Sept 2026. https://www.redblobgames.com/blog/2026-09-16-english-a-vs-an/ (all-rights-reserved)","access":{"human_view":"preview","full_text_available":true,"source_url":"https://www.redblobgames.com/blog/2026-09-16-english-a-vs-an/"},"snippet":null,"score":null}],"total":1,"count":1,"next_offset":null,"has_more":false,"query":{"q":null,"content_type":"tutorial","topic":"writing","publisher":null,"about":null,"author":null,"language":null,"sort":"newest","limit":20,"offset":0}}