Does the determiner “An” or “A” better fit the at the start of the sentence “__ (often crisply cooked) tortilla tastes delicious.”?

Answer 1

Answer 2

"An" fits the sentence better with the parenthetical phrase included. We use "An" when the word following the determiner starts with a vowel or vowel sound. For example, "An" hour, "An" apple, "An" English bulldog. If you were to remove the parenthetical phrase, the correct answer would be "A", as the following word begins with a consonant (tortilla).

Hope that helps!

Answer 3

" An often" fits much better

You don't want two vowels pronounced together. "A often" has the "A" and "o" joined which is clumsy and annoying to pronounce, or hear.

Although by putting "often" into a parenthetical phrase, "A" connects with "tortilla, not with "often" Whether you need the parentheses is probably the real question. They don't serve the usual purpose of marking off a parenthetical expression. Remove the parentheses and you wouldn't be asking whether to use "A" or "An"