Do you type "An fps" or "A fps"?

[dududf]

I'd say Ah FPS

 

[Logan Westbrook]

The correct use is 'an FPS' because you use 'an' before vowel sounds, just in the same way you'd say 'an hour'.

 

[Deleted]

I alternate, sometimes type it like I'm saying the letters, sometimes type it like saying the words.

 

[Daedalus1942]

I've found myself in this weird situation now. I know that since 'f' isn't a vowel, I should have 'a' in front of it, but once I type that, like for instance "I want to play a fps" it gets frustrating to read since I read it as "eff pee ess", but if I type it as 'I want to play an fps" it also gets frustrating, because it looks like bad grammar.

So how do you do it when at situations like these?

I usually refer to it as Fps games, Fps's, or i'll say "I'm currently playing a shooter"

 

[Troublesome Lagomorph]

I use "an fps" because it sounds right to me. "A fps" just sounds like bad english to me.

 

[Daedalus1942]

AN First person Shooter FTW!
An Hero!

 

[Omletrice]

I'd put "A FPS" Because I usually read FPS as First Person shooter.

 

[Kurokami]

A FPS is technically the correct way to say it, I however say an FPS because I pronounce it Ef-Pee-ess.

 

[SimuLord]

I type "an FPS" because I say "an eff-pee-ess".

 

[Kenjitsuka]

You use 'an' before.... oh god what's the term.... errr.... having a mind blank right here, but things like 'fps' 'rts' 'nasa' 'kgb' etc.

Acronym? Though wouldn't you say "a NASA" as opposed to to "an NASA", seeing that NASA starts with an N? Though really, as there is only one NASA, neither are really appropriate...

Yeh, I'm done nitpicking for now.

I'm not an English native (please forgive me ), but doesn't NASA always go WITHOUT ether a or an? You say stuff like "NASA invented a new rocket" or "I was at NASA yesterday", when would you feel the need to say "I saw an NASA yesterday"?

This because there is only ONE NASA. Like there is only one USA. Or is it an USA?

Two people agreed with you so far, and I didn't even read your post, and happen to give an example of where you're all forgetting something. Although there's only one NASA, there's definitely times when you use A. Such as "A NASA experiment." Example: "A NASA experiment earlier today proved the theory of gravity to be false."

However, for the reason why you use A and not "An" in this acronym read my post that's directly above this one.

Ah, interesting and good to know!
In Dutch it's way different; there the type of word used comes from the second word; for example if it's A NASA experiment and experiment would be with AN, then it would be AN NASA experiment for us. So it depends on the second word instead of the one directly after it. Of course in this example it looks horrible, but it's not possible to litteraly copy and explain the Dutch way (because it's 5:33 AM ).

 

[Yarkaz]

I type "An fps", because you only use "an" in front of words that begin with vowels, and you pronounce "FPS" as efff pee ess, as you explained in your post. However, if I say "First person shooter", I'll use "a".

This.

Also, I tend to make my typing sound as much like my speech as possible and lets face it, most people naturally tend to slip an "an." Feel free to stab me for repetition.

 

[Nerdfury]

Pronounced "eff-pee-ess" and therefor should have an "an" article.

Regardless of pronunciation, it is not spelt with an E to begin with. Therefore, grammatically speaking, the correct way to say and write it is "a FPS", and same goes for "a RPG". Works better if 'a' is pronounced 'u', as in Queen's English.
English = weird.

As a follower of the King's English, devout Monarchist, and a self-professed Grammar Nazi (typos excluded), the use of the 'an before vowel' rule also applies to acronyms, as the creation of an acronym also alters to pronunciation and, therefore, applies standardised English grammar rules to it.

 

[vfaulkon]

An FPS.

If you want to speak proper English, you really wouldn't write an acronym like FPS in the first place, since it's colloquial. If you're writing in dialogue you can have the character say it however you think they would, correct or no, but in narrative the proper way to do it is to write it out.

But since you're on the forums and not writing a term paper, you likely would pronounce it 'eff-pee-ess' as you would in casual conversation, thus requiring the 'an' before it. You would really only use 'a' if you normally say the whole thing and just type 'FPS' as an abbreviation...or you just like it, like one earlier poster.


Holy crap, that actually sounded smart. I'm kinda scared now. ^_^;

 

[quiet_samurai]

I actually say
"un FPS"
or
"der FPS"

I'm hardcore like that.

 

[TheBigInterview]

"An FPS" because 'an' also comes before acronyms that aren't proper.

"That's an RPG," "That's an RTS," "That's an FYI"

Instead of,

"Let's go to a KFC".

 

[CuddlyCombine]

Due to pronunciation, I'd go with 'an FPS', just as I'd go with 'an RPG'. 'An' is the article used in front of words that start with consonant sounds, so there's no real issue.

 

[Slayer_2]

An in most cases, though it may vary.

 

[UltimatheChosen]

I generally avoid using that sentence construction for this very reason.

On the rare occasions when I can't avoid it, though, I say "an FPS".

 

[NBSRDan]

Since it is an acronym, "FPS" is pronounced "eff pee ess". If I didn't want it to be pronounced eff pee ess, I would spell the whole term. Therefore, I write "an FPS".