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Use 'an' before any word or abbreviation beginning with a vowel sound, including words beginning with a silent 'h' (as far as we know there are only four of these: hour, honour, heir, honest and their derivatives). You use 'a' with consonant sounds (eg: unicorn), including words beginning with an 'h' which is pronounced (eg: hat, hotel).\nAbbas, Mahmoud\n(Palestinian president.) We should call him Mahmoud Abbas alone, unless he is referred to in a quotation as Abu Mazen, when we can use the formula 'Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen' to explain. In feature-type pieces it would be acceptable to use both terms.\nAboriginal\nMeans indigenous; earliest known inhabitants of a particular country. Use a cap (Aboriginal) if the reference is to the indigenous Australians; otherwise, aboriginal. Likewise, Aborigine/aborigine.\nAbortion\nAvoid pro-abortion, and use pro-choice instead. Campaigners favour a woman's right to choose, rather than abortion itself. And use anti-abortion rather than pro-life, except where it is part of the title of a group's name.\nAbu Bakar Ba'asyir\nA Muslim cleric, alleged spiritual leader of militant group Jemaah Islamiah, convicted of charges relating to the bombings in Bali and at the Marriot Hotel in Jakarta. Give full name at first mention; subsequently Ba'asyir.\nAbu Hamza al-Masri\nAt first mention only, spell out his full name - thereafter he can be referred to as Abu Hamza. Never shorten the name to 'Hamza', even in a headline.\nAbu Mazen\n(Palestinian Authority president.) We should call him Mahmoud Abbas alone, unless he is referred to in a quotation as Abu Mazen, when we can use the formula 'Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen' to explain. In feature-type pieces it would be acceptable to use both terms.\nAbu Qatada\n(Radical Palestinian-Jordanian cleric.) He remains Abu Qatada at second reference.\nAcas\n(ie initial cap only) NB: it is not the government's Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service. It is independent.\nAccents\nWe do not include accents - either in accented words that have passed into the English language or in foreign names - eg: He had his breakfast in a cafe and The Brazilian football legend Pele scored twice.\nAccidents\nFor legal reasons, be careful about saying one vehicle 'hit' another. Err on the side of caution and use collided with/was in collision with. (Collisions involve two or more moving objects; they cannot involve something stationary.)\nAchilles heel\nie no apostrophe and upper case 'A'.\nAcronyms\nUse the abbreviated form of a title without explanation only if there is no chance of any misunderstanding (eg UN, Nato, IRA, BBC). Otherwise, spell it out in full at first reference, or introduce a label (eg the public sector union Unite).\nWhere you would normally pronounce the abbreviation as a string of letters - an initialism - use all capitals with no full stops or spaces (eg FA, UNHCR, NUT). However, our style is to use lower case with an initial cap for acronyms where you would normally pronounce the set of letters as a word (eg Aids, Farc, Eta, Nafta, Nasa, Opec, Apec).\nThere are a few exceptions:\nThe National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is capped up ie NICE\nThe UK Independence Party is capped up ie UKIP\nStrategic Health Authority becomes SHA ('Sha' looks like a typo)\nSeasonal Affective Disorder becomes SAD ('Sad' would be confusing).\nFor names with initials, we avoid full stops and spaces (ie JK Rowling and WH Smith).\nWhenabbreviating a phrase, rather than a name or title, use lower case (ie lbw, mph).\nActs/acts (of parliament)\nUse lower case unless you are naming a specific act - eg: He argued for a new government act on petrol taxes because, he said, the Finance Act had proved a disaster. The same logic applies for a parliamentary bill ie lower case if non-specific, initial cap if named.\nActor/actress\nusing the term ‘actress’ (or comedienne) is OK. Actors is fine if describing a mixed group: A number of people at the theatre w","cbCairbQf4rK155o","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCairbQf4rK155o","docx",263027,194,"English","# Article usage\n## a vs an\n## Accents and punctuation\n# Names and references\n## Capitalisation rules\n## Avoiding abbreviations\n# Terminology and sensitive wording\n## Pro-choice vs pro-abortion\n## Legal caution in verbs\n# Acronyms and abbreviations\n## Initial caps and formatting\n## When to spell out","[{\"question\":\"How does the guide explain when to use “a” versus “an”?\",\"answer\":\"Use “an” before words or abbreviations that begin with a vowel sound, including cases with a silent “h”; use “a” with consonant sounds, including pronounced “h” words.\"},{\"question\":\"What does the guide recommend for pronouncing and spelling acronyms and initialisms?\",\"answer\":\"Use the abbreviated form without explanation only when there’s little risk of misunderstanding; follow capitalization conventions based on whether the letters are pronounced as a word or as a string, and avoid full stops and spaces for initialisms.\"},{\"question\":\"How should journalists handle sensitive wording such as “hit” in collision reporting?\",\"answer\":\"For legal reasons, use cautious verbs such as “collided with/was in collision with,” since “collisions” require two or more moving objects and cannot involve something stationary.\"}]","BBC News style guide - searchable version | DOCX",68]