An unique user and a honest boy

A American gave an unique pen and a umbrella to an European who was studying in an University.
A hour later, he gave it to a honest friend.
Are you not feeling uncomfortable? You are bound to but many do not.
It is natural to feel uncomfortable because the articles a and an are mindlessly placed.
Some of us are not sure where to use or not to use a and an.
A and an are indefinite articles and they signal that the noun modified is indefinite, referring to any member of a group.
I will discuss the use of articles in detail in one of the future posts.
Here, the intention is only the removal of doubts on using a and an.
The title of a book I recently saw was “An useful compendium……..”
This resulted from a blind learning that the article used must be an when the next noun/adjective begins with a vowel.
It is wrong to follow this blindly.
This following guideline will be a more reliable one to follow.
1.a + singular noun beginning with a consonant:
Examples: a boy; a car; a bike; a zoo; a dog
2.an + singular noun beginning with a vowel:
Examples: an elephant; an egg; an apple; an idiot; an orphan
3.a + singular noun beginning with a vowel but consonant sound:
Examples: a user (sounds like 'yoo-zer,' i.e. begins with a consonant 'y' sound although started with a vowel u, so 'a' is used); a university; a unique idea, a European player.
4.an + singular noun beginning with a consonant but vowel sound:
Examples: an honest boy (sounds like onest,' i.e. begins with a vowel 'o' sound although started with a consonant h, so 'an' is used), an hour.
So, the choice of articles a or an is decided by the sound of the succeeding noun/adjective rather than based on whether the first alphabet is a vowel or a consonant.
Let us rewrite the introductory sentences now.
An American gave a unique pen and an umbrella to a European who was studying in a University.
An hour later, he gave it to an honest friend.