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Help from grammar Nazis: a or an before "h"?

Belisarius

Belisarius

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I know that is proper grammar to use "an" before "h" in some cases, such as "an historian." However, I'm a little fuzzy on how it should be used in other contexts. Should "an" be used before "h" on all occasions, or just in some of them? As an example, I'm think of "a hospital" vs. "an hospital", preceded by "It was a..."

Thanks in advance, y'all. :)

Note: Please edit the title. I had no idea the UBB formatting wouldn't come through.
 
it apparently depends on whether or not you'd call it a hospital or an 'ospital ;)

Use an in place of a when it precedes a vowel sound, not just a vowel. That means it's "an honor" (the h is silent), but "a UFO" (because it's pronounced yoo eff oh). This confuses people most often with acronyms and other abbreviations: some people think it's wrong to use "an" in front of an abbreviation (like "MRI") because "an" can only go before vowels. Poppycock: the sound is what matters. It's "an MRI," assuming you pronounce it "em ar eye."

One tricky case comes up from time to time: is it "a historic occasion" or "an historic occasion"? Some speakers favor the latter — more British than American, but you'll find them in both places — using an on longish words (three or more syllables) beginning with H, where the first syllable isn't accented. They'd say, for instance, "a hístory textbook" but "an históric event." (Likewise "a hábit" but "an habítual offender," "a hýpothetical question" but "an hypóthesis.") Still, most guides prefer a before any H that's sounded: "a historic occasion," "a hysterical joke," "a habitual offender" — but "an honor" and "an hour" because those H's aren't sounded.

http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/a.html
 
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The use of indefinite articles in any language is dictated by the spoken tongue, not by the written one. Just as it bothers fairnymph to see that used insted of who or [/i]whom[/i] it is the bigesr pet peeve of mine to see people constantly use an in their posts where a should have gone. There seems to have evolved this secret rule along the way which apparently dictates that the indefinite article is controlled not by the word that immediately follows it, but specifically the noun it belongs to. Hence, I constantly see such creative assembly as an ripe orange or a orange bag (where we should have seen a ripe orange and an orange bag). The saddest part about this new evolution is that it is now being propagated as law by many teaching establishments. For heavens sake, go back to the roots, my learned friends.

To sum up, learn to speak first. Your speech will take care of your writing rules, where indefinite articles are concerned (yes, ithis is one of the few cases where the spoken tongue presides over the written one). We say

- an hour instead of a hour (the h stays silent in all dialects)

- an umbrella, but a used umbrella (the y sound in used is deemed a consonant - remember, speech presides)
- a historical fact and an historical fact can both be correct, as the silence of the h is fluid

a precedes consonant sounds, an precedes vowel sounds. Not the first written letter of the following word, but the first sound of that word!
That is all you have to remember
 
an historian is NOT right.

I thought it was "an" before vowel and "a" before consinants.

You use an "an" before hour b/c the "h" is silent, so it has a vowel sound.
 
^^
it is "an" before vowels, but the "h" at the begenning of some words makes what ammounts to a vowel sound.

consider which sounds better:

a historic occaision
or
an historic occaision
 
djwhirlpool said:
an historian is NOT right.

I thought it was "an" before vowel and "a" before consinants.

You use an "an" before hour b/c the "h" is silent, so it has a vowel sound.
Click to expand...

The silence of the "h" in the beginning of a word is fluid/variable, often regional. While you will almost always hear "history", you are just as likely to hear "a historic account" as you are "an 'istoric account". That's if you travel to enough English speaking countries, of course. Remember, don't look at it from a written point of view, but a spoken one.

edit: the above pertains to a select few words only
 
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A historic occasion.

Long A.

Most American newscasters use "an historic occasion" because it DOES sound better. But just because a phrase sounds more pleasing to the ear does not mean it is grammatically correct. And according to what I learned as a kid, it is a historic occasion.

For reference, I grew up in Louisiana and Florida, I now live in California and unless I am very drunk I have no accent (by American English standards).
 
mariposa420 said:
A historic occasion.

Long A.

Most American newscasters use "an historic occasion" because it DOES sound better. But just because a phrase sounds more pleasing to the ear does not mean it is grammatically correct. And according to what I learned as a kid, it is a historic occasion.

For reference, I grew up in Louisiana and Florida, I now live in California and unless I am very drunk I have no accent (by American English standards).
Click to expand...


Why does everyone constantly measure everything by an American ruler?! You'd think the English language was invented there, exists only there, and must be used in only The American regional way. 8)

Here you go: an explanation in layman's terms

;)
 
do english people say the h in historic? i know they drop the h in many other words. an historic occasion sounds silly to me if you are pronouncing the h.
 
The last few posts hit it on the head. It has to do with proper British English as opposed to the new-and-improved American English (okay, Brits, leave me alone, I just couldnt think of a better phrase to use). The British tend to keep the H silent an awful lot more than the Americans do.

In American English, the correct way to say it would be "a hospital." You would sound like a doof, as many of our newscasters do, by saying "an hospital" in any dialect other than a British one. I'm saying it out loud right now, and trust me, "a hospital" sounds way better than "an 'ospital" because I don't sound like Arthur Dent when I speak.
 
I speak and write American English because I am American. I don't think it's any better or worse than British English. Contrary to prevailing belief, not all Americans think we're better than everyone else. ;)

If I lived where British English was written and spoken then I would at least adopt British spellings because I'm sure the business and academic communities would expect it. I would not, however, affect an accent - though I'm sure I'd pick some aspects of the commonly used speech up.

And if I started spelling the word color as colour (by way of example) I am sure I would be laughed out of my office. Neither is a misspelling; it is a cultural difference... as is "(h)istorian".

Many Americans see the usage of British spellings by American-educated / born persons as pretentious. I won't go so far as to say I'm one of them, but it's a prevalent viewpoint.

Nonetheless, I have heard several American newscasters (Barbara Walters and Diane Sawyer come to mind) say "an 'istoric occasion".
 
"An historic" definitely sounds ridiculously stupid to me.

Then again, British people talk funny. :D

I guess it's cuz I'm pronouncing it "American-ly". Or something. :D

But I could totally see British people dropping the h-sound and pronouncing it "An 'istoric occasion..."

:)
 
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