this post was submitted on 11 Apr 2026
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[–] Harvey656@lemmy.world 11 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (5 children)

Offtopic:

An usually

This feels odd, it seems like proper English, with the An since the next word starts with a vowel, but something about it feels off and I might be too dumb to realize what it is.

[–] SCmSTR@lemmy.blahaj.zone 14 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (2 children)

I'm guessing the title is a typo, and I'm guessing was meant to be "An UNusually...."

And the "a vs an" rule is more based on the sound that the next word starts with, rather than just the actual letter.

So for "usually", it's a "You-" sound

But for "unusually" it's an "Uh-" sound

[–] Harvey656@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

That makes so much more sense, thanks!

[–] SCmSTR@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 4 days ago

🎉 Glad to be able to help 👍

[–] ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net 2 points 3 days ago

Definitely was a typo on my part!

[–] jaybone@lemmy.zip 10 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Because the u in usually is pronounced like the consonant y, like “yew”. We use “a” before consonant sounds.

The u in unusually is pronounced like the vowel sound u, like “uh”. We use “an” before vowel sounds.

This is because two vowel sounds in a row is somewhat awkward and doesn’t flow as easily with how you move your mouth to pronounce things. Using “an” puts an extra consonant sound in between the two vowel sounds.

[–] chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world 8 points 4 days ago

It’s odd because wide adoption of rooftop solar is still unusual, so I think the wrong word was used. It should read:

“An unusually wide adoption of rooftop solar…”

[–] GoodStuffEh@lemmy.ca 6 points 4 days ago

I think it's because "usually" starts with a Y consonant sound (yoo-sually), instead of a vowel sound

[–] cerement@slrpnk.net 6 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

because while “usually” starts with a ‘u’, we typically pronounce it as if it started with a ‘y’