grammar - Should I use 'a' or 'an' when the following word is within parentheses?





“a/an” preceding a parenthetical statement



I'm asking a question on Stack Overflow now, and I'm unsure about this:



I have an (Ruby on Rails site's) API which returns JSON data.




  • 'API' starts with an 'A' so I should use 'an': an API …

  • 'Ruby' (within parentheses) starts with an 'R' so I should use 'a': a (Ruby …


Must I use 'a' or 'an' in this case?


In other words, is the 'a' or 'an' only dependent on the following word not within parentheses?




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