So: "a NPC" or "an NPC"?
When abbreviating terms into acronyms, I've noticed a lot of people don't consider how the first letter is gonna be pronounced, so for individual letters starting off with a vowel sound such as "F", "L" or "N" they'll still write "a" instead of "an" under the assumption that the full meaning of said acronym is gonna be sounded out instead of just the letters.
Does anyone else besides me find this annoying?
No. Become an hero.
there was a picture here
That's actually not a problem for me (me being mexican, speaking and reading spanish all day and the like), but yeah, I sometimes I wonder myself why you write that... well, like that.
I don't know the specifics, but as far as I recall from when I once looked into this, it is gramatically correct to write as if the acronym will be pronounced in its expanded form, not as an acronym.
I hadn't even noticed, actually.
:/
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I know exatctly what you mean Psi. I first noticed when ever I talked about a RPG... Or is it an RPG?
I find it more confusing than annoying because either way can be right or wrong.
an obviously. Otherwise it's not conducive to speaking.
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I do notice when it's a instead of an and I type it as an if that is what is needed.
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I type as I speak, because it's easier to do so. Vowel sounds > consonants.
An. Grammer FTW!
Oh, did I mention I'm awesome?
i just make it up as i go
What MILF said. As long as the length of the acronym is pronounced, a RPG would be grammatically correct.
Not that I agree with that. If you're going to write an acronym, you're going to say the letters, dur. I don't follow the rules because I write an RPG.
Since I pronounce NPC as "en pee cee" and not "non player character," it is an.
Exactly. Acronyms are pronounced as acronyms, and the word before it should reflect that. Both RPG and NPC would have "an" before them. If you type out "non player character" or "role playing game", then feel free to use "a", otherwise, "an" is the grammatically correct choice.Originally Posted by Azar
Of course, this is an internet forum, so any expectation of proper grammar is rather ridiculous.
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