Question

Fill in the blanks with suitable articles. (Mark the omission of the
article with 'X'mark)

My friend Johnson is ------European. His wife is .........American.​

Answer 1

My friend Johnson is a European. His wife is an American.

Explanation:

• We use “an” with vowel sound letters and “a” with consonants.

• But here before European, I didn’t used “an” although it start with vowel words.

• Because European is said with an initial y sound which include as a consonant sound in English speech, It is said (and written) with a not an.

Hope it helped.............

Answer 2

My friend Johnson is a European. His wife is an American.

EXPLANATION:

• We know that an is added before the words starting from a, e, I, o, u, and h. If we are following this rule blindly then a European should have been correct, but it is not.
• Because we add a before the vowel sounds.
• The word Europe starts with e but it does not have any vowel sound at the starting of it because it is pronounced by the /j/ sound which is not a vowel sound.
• Therefore, the European is used. But in the starting of word America, the word starts with a vowel sound and that's why an American is used.