khoff  +  94324 Thu, 28 Apr 05 08:01 PM --- Many thanks. This has been a great help. The argument ended, the bet settled! --- Nothing is settled that fast on this board! As an American, I would say "a hotel" (pronuouncing the "h") and "an herb garden" (dropping the "h"). (however, if I were saying the name Herb, short for Herbert, I would pronounce the "h"). However, I seem to remember the rule that you say "a history" but "an historian," and I'm not sure why, as the initial letters sound about the same to me. Anyway, I also vote for "a hotel." khoff Joined on Sun, Mar 6 2005 Senior Member 3,216 Native speaker of American English (but not a grammar expert)

	MrPedantic  +  94365 Thu, 28 Apr 05 11:10 PM I believe that 'an' can be used with words that start with a silent H, or words where the H is sounded, but the first syllable is unstressed. Thus 'an historical', 'an historian', 'an hotel'; but 'a history', 'a hog', 'a hopeless case'. (That said, I'd vote for 'a hotel'/'a historian'.) MrP MrPedantic Joined on Tue, Oct 12 2004 Veteran Member 13,616 ...opella forensis / adducit febris...

	David  +  94534 Fri, 29 Apr 05 02:25 PM Silent h an. Pronounced h use a. A hook. An heirloom. Also depends on how a is pronounced. David Joined on Sat, Mar 8 2003 Regular Member 664

	CalifJim  +  94581 Fri, 29 Apr 05 05:18 PM I know the Americans drop more h's than we do. Except for the example of "herb", which with the 'h' sound is the name of a person (!), I find this statement absolutely false!!! I'm willing to 'ear more about it 'owever. CJ CalifJim Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004 California Veteran Member 22,128 "There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche

	beebird  +  120403 Fri, 22 Jul 05 06:13 PM A related question:  Is "a" or "an" correct before an acronym whose first letter is a consonent, but that is pronounced starting with a vowel.  That is, SME is the acronym for subject matter expert.  Obviously, SME starts with the consonant "S."  But the acronym is pronounced "ess, em, ee."  Therefore, do we ask questions of a SME or an SME? Thanks in advance. Dee beebird Joined on Thu, Mar 24 2005 New Member 01 Vowels, Consonants

	Teacher Eric  +  120421 Fri, 22 Jul 05 07:45 PM Bee, As a guide, pay more attention to the initial sound instead of the initial letter. So, if the starting letter of the acronym is "S" then the article to be used is "an" because "S" sounds like /es/. The same goes for "LG". You should say, "I bought an LG TV." As a rule, use "A" before a consonant sound and "An" before a vowel sound. It's a university, not a college. Do you have a one-dollar coin? It takes an hour to get there. I got an F in math. Teacher Eric Joined on Mon, Aug 16 2004 Full Member 171 Manila-based ESL/ESP teacher with a TESOL. Hoping to get a "Pass" in the DELTA. Articles, Universities, Vowels, Consonants

	CalifJim  +  120535 Sat, 23 Jul 05 06:26 AM "an" before a word beginning with "h" is possible only under the following circumstances: 1)  The "h" is silent; OR 2)  The "h" is sounded, AND the word is polysyllabic, AND the first syllable of the word is unstressed, AND the next letter after "h" is "i" or "y", pronounced as in "him". In Group 1 you have "an heir" and "an honest man". In Group 2 you have "an historical novel" and "an hysterical reaction". And then you have all the others, which belong to neither group, like "a history book" and "a hotel" and "a horrific experience" and "a hammer" and "a humanitarian effort" and "a harpoon". I wouldn't be surprised if some style manuals advise "an" before an "h"-word only when "h" is silent, dropping the nonsensical and byzantine little computer program required by the second group! CJ CalifJim

	Nyarlathotep  +  121452 Tue, 26 Jul 05 11:14 AM This is an interesting thread. I'm English, but I don't, by any means, speak standard English. Where I'm from, people drop t's and h's almost always. I suppose it's just laziness.   Nonetheless I have always understood that we are to use 'a' for consonants and 'an' for vowels, but with a few exceptions. One of these would be 'historian', which I, at school, was taught to precede with 'an'. Now, I never understood this. When we're not being lazy, we pronounce the 'h' in 'historian' in the same way we do the 'h' in 'hotel'. It 'sounds better', and more natural, to use 'a', in this case.   To this day, in concurrence with David's statement, I only use 'an' with words beginning with vowels or silent h's (such as heirloom). This is what I took the rule to mean - that 'an' was to be used with words beginning with vowels, or 'h'-words whch require it.   I'm guessing I've been misinformed; please correct me! Where's Herr Micawber when you need him?   -Nyarlathotep Nyarlathotep Joined on Fri, Jun 24 2005 England New Member 45 "Don't screw with my disco Nadine!!" Vowels, Consonants

	Glsutcliffe  +  129601 Mon, 22 Aug 05 02:47 PM American and British English differences have nothing to do with this. Herb is the only example of difference between the two. 'An hotel' is archaic but may still be used by old-fashioned writers. The rule that somebody mentioned above is correct: an + 'h' when the first syllable is unstressed is acceptable. In my opinion, 'an historic' sounds a bit pompous but there you go. If in doubt, follow the "a + consonant" rule as normal ('a historic') as "an + h before unstressed first syllable" should eventually be phased out unless the BBC style guide has its way. Glsutcliffe Joined on Sun, Aug 21 2005 Dorset, UK New Member 05 Difference Between, British English, Consonants