4 ms·
I didn't know that, I always got told it depends on the first letter (and it didn't make sense for me for some words).. (Obviously not a native speaker)
by bootloop 6y ago
I didn't know that, I always got told it depends on the first letter (and it didn't make sense for me for some words).. (Obviously not a native speaker)
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- diamondlovesyou 6y agoDon't worry too much: I am a native speaker and I was taught the same in elementary school!
- skykooler 6y agoNope, it's based on the first sound. (Hence "an hour" rather than "a hour").
- kevin_thibedeau 6y agoDon't tell the knuckle draggers still pretending that "history" has a silent-H.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- adrianmonk 6y agoThat's an accent thing. In some places the "h" is silent, and in other places it's not.
- int_19h 6y agoIs there any English dialect in which it's silent in "a history"?
- Mirioron 6y agoThis is also why it's "a university".
- abnercoimbre 6y agoWait, what? So the rule isn't that the pronunciation starts with a vowel sound? Instead it's a more murky thing about how easy it rolls off the tongue?
- SiNiquity 6y agoUniversity starts with the 'y' sound, hence "a university." On the other hand, "an unimpressive fact" uses "an" because "unimpressive" starts with the 'u' (vowel) sound.
- casta 6y agoDoesn't "university" start with the "y" consonant sound?
- swimfar 6y agoUniversity has a kind of "y" sound, like the word "yes", which isn't considered a vowel sound.
- qubex 6y agoThat’s why the pronunciation of “an history” is such a contentious issue in British political linguistics to this day. Crucially, as has been observed correctly, the rule is that one should use the appropriate indefinite article. That in turn depends on whether one pronounces, as pirates, or has a silent ‘h’, revealing one’s origins even once the guise of Received Pronunciation had been defensively adopted.