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It's a lot more simple than everyone is making it out to be. You base a/an on the sound of the first syllable rather than what the first letter is. An hour. A
by dm2 12y ago
It's a lot more simple than everyone is making it out to be.
You base a/an on the sound of the first syllable rather than what the first letter is.
An hour. An herb. A hotel. An HMO. An REI. A one-off. An MRI. An fMRI. An SEO. A DOE building. A user. All of these are for US English pronunciation.
- sambeau 12y agoUK newspapers all seem to agree on 'a hotel' but disagree on 'an historian'. http://www.theguardian.com/guardian-observer-style-guide-h http://www.theguardian.com/guardian-observer-style-guide-h http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/about-us/style-book/1435307/Telegraph-style-book-Aa.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/about-us/style-book/143530... http://www.economist.com/styleguide/a#node-21532141 http://www.economist.com/styleguide/a#node-21532141 I've generally used the Economist in my past writing and they say: An An should be used before a word beginning with a vowel sound (an egg, an umbrella, an MP) or an h if, and only if, the h is silent (an honorary degree). But a European, a university, a U-turn, a hospital, a hotel. Historical is an exception: it is preceded by an, the h remaining silent. Which begs the question — what was my victorian-style, Scottish primary school teacher on about when she insisted on 'an hotel'?
- dm2 12y agoTeachers can be wrong, but maybe some words are pronounced differently with a Scottish accent. And the "or an h..." part is redundant because "honorary" starts with the sound "on". I've never heard "historical" pronounced with a silent "h" though.
- vidarh 12y agoPronunciation is highly regional, an if you pronounce "hotel" without voicing/aspirating the "h", then "an" is appropriate. When newspapers use style-guides, they are after consistence as well as "emulate" a certain spoken voice consistent with their profile and target demographics.
- KMag 12y agoIt certainly raises a question, but how is this circular reasoning?[1] [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begging_the_question https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begging_the_question
- sambeau 12y agoIt's not. Note the second paragraph where it mentions modern usage. In modern vernacular usage, "to beg the question" is sometimes used to mean "to raise the question"
- nodata 12y ago> It's a lot more simple than everyone is making it out to be. > > An herb. Erm...
- dm2 12y agoIt depends on how you pronounce it. In the US the "h" is silent and it's pronounced "erb".
- nodata 12y agoSo Herbie (the car) was 'erbie? Cockney-style?
- dm2 12y agono, it was pronounced "her-bee" but herbal is pronounced "err-bul". Again, this is only for US English, not sure about UK. A Herbie toy. An herbal tea.
- fluidcruft 12y agoI agree that "err-bul" for herbal is quite common in the US. However, "erb" for herb is not.
- gknoy 12y agoIt might be a regional dialect. Growing up in the west coast, I have never heard "her-bal tea", but rather always heard "er-bull tea". Hearing the "h" sound in "herb" (as I do whenever I hear British (and Australian?) speakers speak) was always very jarring, until I realized that it was just that they pronounce that class of words differently than we do. It's possible that in the eastern or southern US, they say the H in "herb".
- dublinben 12y agoI'm not aware of any American dialect of English that aspirates the h in "herb."