Is this sentence right?

WIs this text book sentence right? (basic 2nd grade english knowledge)?

• the use of "an" instead of "a" in a sentence was taught to me as if the next word after "a" starts with a vowel in the sentence then you will use "an" instead. for example: I opened an account today with Capitol One. notice that account starts with an "a" therefore the use of "an" in needed. so here is my question. i am reading in a college textbook and i stumbled across this sentence: "It is important to remember that the women's movement has never been a unitary event." shouldn't it be "an unitary event" instead?

• Answer:

  It's right. It's not about the letter at the beginning of the word necessarily, but more about the sound. When you say "unitary", you pronounce it "Yunitary". Y is not a vowel sound in this case. Say it out loud. Does "an unitary" sound right to you? Now if it had been "a unbelievable event", then it would be wrong. Because when you say it out loud, there is no consonant-type sound before the u. If the word starts with a consonant SOUND, use "a". If the word starts with a vowel sound, use "an".