a MST, or an MST?

[Joseph O'Rourke]

Which is correct, "a MST," or "an MST"? MST = Minimum Spanning Tree.
So if one imagines expanding the acronynm, it should be "a MST."
But the acronymn is used so frequently that readers will say
"em ess tee" in their heads, in which case "an MST" sounds better.

[J Scott Peter]

The article should be chosen based on the usual way the acronym is
pronounced. Therefore, it should be "an MST". This is fascinating,
because some acronyms have alternate pronunciations. Those that are
pronounceable character sequences are often pronounced as words, not
letters. "NASA" is pronounced "nassa", but "HST" is pronounced "H S T".
What's great about the indefinite article is that it so often indicates
which pronunciation of an acronym the author is thinking of: word or initial.
This is because the names of so many English letters start with vowels.
I'm often surprised when coming across an acronym in print, and realising
that the author pronounces it differently than I do.

--
J Scott Peter XXXIII // "Instantiating new solutions in the emerging arena
sco...@netcom.com // of transcending the de-facto horizons of industry-
Las Anjealous // standard open paradigms."

[Philip N Whitman]

Look, there's a nit! Think I'd better pick it. That was an interesting
posting about whether to use "a" or "an" in front of an acronym, and I'll
follow the guideline suggested in my writing in the future. But, there are
acronyms and there are initializations. Acronyms are pronounced as they are
spelled; thus NASA, laser and scuba are acronyms. Initializations are simply
spelled out; thus, MIT, MRI and IBM are initializations. I got this out of
a technical writing guide that a roommate of mine had a few years ago.

-Neal Whitman

[Matt Garretson]

In article <1993Jan10.0...@netcom.com> sco...@netcom.com (J Scott Peter) writes:
>In article <C04qL...@mtholyoke.edu> oro...@mtholyoke.edu (Joseph O'Rourke) writes:
>>Which is correct, "a MST," or "an MST"? MST = Minimum Spanning Tree.
>

>The article should be chosen based on the usual way the acronym is
>pronounced. Therefore, it should be "an MST". This is fascinating,

...[deletia]...

>I'm often surprised when coming across an acronym in print, and realising
>that the author pronounces it differently than I do.

This happens to me every time I see mention of "an FAQ" in a Usenet article!