Ok, now that I just offended a nation, lets get back to the important stuff. Grammar.
Which of these is correct? Please fill in the circle completely w/ your #2 pencil:
A. The quick brown fox watched a FLV that he published in an FLA.
B. The quick brown fox watched a FLV that he published in a FLA.
C. The quick brown fox watched an FLV that he published in a FLA.
D. The quick brown fox watched an FLV that he published in an FLA.
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Take your time.
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When in doubt, pick C.
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Ok, pencils down.
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The correct answer (according to my sources at Wikipedia) is D.
And here is why...
An is used before words starting with a vowel sound, regardless of whether the word begins with a vowel letter.[1] Examples: a light-water reactor; an LWR (although this example only applies if the letters are intended to be pronounced); a sanitary sewer overflow; an SSO; a HEPA filter (because HEPA is pronounced as a word rather than as letters); an hour; a ewe; a hero; a one-armed bandit; an heir; a unicorn (begins with 'yu', a consonant sound).
Feel free to read the full description here. And while you are at it, learn what a pangram is here.
FLA is pronounced "EF-EL-AYE" (NOT Flauh!!!) and since F sounds like it starts with a vowel then we need to us "an" before it. Since FLV and FLA both start with F then they both need the "an" which means that answer D is the correct answer.
How did you do?
12 comments:
I completely agree with 'D'. English is such a stupid language.
People who say "jiff" can F*** Off as well!
@Iain
uh oh... you mean instead of G.I.F? I am in trouble. You say G.I.F? hmmm... maybe my hatred for "fluah" is off based.
You are from London, do you hear a lot of "fluah" over there? or am I crazy?
Side note, enjoyed your post about Outliers... need to think about it and come back to it. Loved the book...
I'm from germany.. everyone I know says "fluh". Please don't hit me. ;)
And by the way.. Most people here call a GIF like "give".
Okay, found this on Wikipedia, so there's nothing wrong about it:
"The creators of the format pronounced GIF with a soft "g", /ˈdʒɪf/, as in "George". However, many people pronounce GIF with a hard "G", as in a 'gift' /ˈɡɪf/,[citation needed] reflecting the way it is pronounced in its own acronym (Graphics Interchange Format). According to the creator of the GIF format, Steve Wilhite, the pronunciation deliberately echoes that of an American peanut butter brand, Jif, and the employees of CompuServe would often say "Choosy developers choose GIF", spoofing this brand's television commercials.[citation needed] This pronunciation was also identified by CompuServe in their documentation of a graphics display program called CompuShow. Both pronunciations are given as correct by the Oxford English Dictionary[3] and the American Heritage Dictionary."
everyone says "fluh"??? Hmmm, maybe I am the weird duck. (And don't worry, I said I would sock MYSELF in the face, so I won't hit you. I think I should rethink that threat... haha).
And thanks for the GIF / JIF. That is interesting. I say GIF... not JIF... not "G" "I" "F". Altho I like their pun on Jiff, that is clever.
Alright, back to "F" "L" "A". I think I should turn it around... do many people spell it out or am I the outcast?
For what it's worth, inside the shop I usually hear people say "flah", and either "F-L-V" or sometimes "fliv".
(I'm more "C", but I hear people do "B" too.)
And it's "jiff" if you started using GIFs before all the dot-com newbies came in.... ;-)
http://www.olsenhome.com/gif/
jd/adobe
@John
well that about settles it. If Adobe is saying Flah then I am officially the weird duck... man, that is depressing.
Totally screws up my test too. Because Flah would need to be proceeded by "a". So if you say "Flah" and F-L-V then "C" would be correct. If you say "Flah" and "Fliv" then "B" would be correct.
Sheesh, all of a sudden this not so deep thought became really confusing.
Side note, never heard Fliv, kinda like that too. Seems slang to me.
I went with 'D'. A lot of people in NZ/AU say Flah, however I still prefer to say F-L-A. I've never heard anyone say Fliv, only F-L-V, or on rare occasion 'Flash Video'. GIF has always been 'gif' rather than 'jif', but that might be to do with the difference in accents here?
It's called 'flah' over here :)
@anon, where is 'here'?
I've begrudgingly, and gradually, been converted to saying 'flah', whereas I held out for many years calling it F-L-A.
I'm UK based and 90% of Flash programmers I work with call it 'flah', so in order to aid communication I now do the same.
I don't like it though, although when you step back and think about it, why use three syllables when one does the trick?
I've always called GIFs, gifs.
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