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Subject:How would you....? From:mpriestley -at- VNET -dot- IBM -dot- COM Date:Tue, 21 Jun 1994 17:25:59 EDT
Glen Accardo writes:
> The figure below shows an SQL query.
>I say that "an" is the proper article when writing the sentence, even though
>I would use "a" if I spoke the same sentence.
The official policy here (last time I checked) was to follow spoken
pronunciation. If most of your users say "sequel", then write "a SQL".
Things get messy, of course, if you've got a wide variety of pronunciations
in use in your user population. The rule is: go with what the majority say,
but that's not the kind of statistic you can empirically determine on short
notice.
Good luck,
Michael Priestley
Information Developer - IBM Canada
mpriestley -at- vnet -dot- ibm -dot- com
Disclaimer: my opinions about IBM's opinions, not IBM's opinions per se.
