Correct grammar

[chutley76]

Hi !

Doing a paper for a myocardial infarction and when I abbreviate it to MI, is it preceded by A or AN.

When I type it out, I want to write the patient had an MI rather that the patient had a MI.

What is correct??

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

I believe it is .....The patient has had an MI (past tense) or the patient has a MI (present tense). But I am not the best grammar police person

[csmcj, BSN, RN]

Ooh, I know this one. In my pre-nursing-school life I was a linguistics major, if that gives any weight to what I say.

Default/variant choice (in this case a/an) is driven by phonetics. Therefore when you say myocardial infarction, there is a consonant sound at the front word boundary, meaning you'd use "a." However, when you say MI (em-eye), the front word boundary is a vowel sound, which means you'd use "an."

[JustBeachyNurse, LPN]

An before vowels and words that begin with vowel sounds. So an MI and an RZ are correct. Good explanation: http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/a-versus-an

[Stephalump]

Yes, you choose "a" or "an" based on the SOUND of a word, not the actually letter. The letter M is pronounced "Em" so you precede it with the word "an."

[christina731]

I try not to use abbreviations in anything that I have to turn in. I also have the most nit-picky instructors on the planet.

[Stephalump]

Yes you choose "a" or "an" based on the SOUND of a word, not the actually letter. The letter M is pronounced "Em" so you precede it with the word "an."[/quote']

I like how my grammar on a post about grammar was atrocious.

[krisiepoo]

I try not to use abbreviations in anything that I have to turn in. I also have the most nit-picky instructors on the planet.

this... It is not fun having to spell it out everytime but we get docked for using abbreviations as well as contractions (do not instead of don't)

[LoriRNCM, ADN, ASN, RN]

I like how my grammar on a post about grammar was atrocious.

Hate when that happens! I do that too. Or do I do that, too?

[chutley76]

Thank you all very much!

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

Ooh, I know this one. In my pre-nursing-school life I was a linguistics major, if that gives any weight to what I say.

Default/variant choice (in this case a/an) is driven by phonetics. Therefore when you say myocardial infarction, there is a consonant sound at the front word boundary, meaning you'd use "a." However, when you say MI (em-eye), the front word boundary is a vowel sound, which means you'd use "an."

That's what the estimable Grammar Girl says. She has a great website, cited above by JustBeachy!

[NICU Guy, BSN, RN]

If I use an abbreviation, I always use the full word first and then the rest of the paper use the initials. "Patient had a myocardial Infarction (MI) yesterday." Never had an instructor count off for abbreviations if I define them previously.