An history of the 'h?'

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#107616 Sat, 11 Jun 05 11:04 AM

When speaking the word 'history,' must we precede it with 'an,' as it is written, or may we precede it with 'a?' I rarely hear people say "An history of the world," but today somebody said "A history of the world," and it suddenly sounded wrong to me. Speaking of words beginning with 'h,' I wonder also how it came to be that some require 'an' and some require 'a.' I am curious about the difference, but I am more curious about how this came to be and why this is so. Also, why is it that some people pronounce some or all 'h' words with a 'y' sound? Thank you for your help.

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#107635 Sat, 11 Jun 05 12:13 PM

Just remember than 'an' always precedes a vowel sound.
E.g. an hour (our), an elephant.

Notice that it doesn't matter if the next word begins with a vowel or not. Only the vowel sound matters.

On the other hand, 'a' always precedes non-vowel sounds.
E.g. a car, a unicorn (you-ni-corn)

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Joined on Fri, Jun 10 2005

New Member (03)

Vowels

davkett

#107715 Sat, 11 Jun 05 04:31 PM

To Scriber,

In speech, can certain "h" words sound more of less like they start with a vowel sound, either depending on the speaker or on the form of the word? For instance, "a history book" compared to "an historical remark" (where the accent on the second syllable of "historical" can make the "h" inaudible.

davkett

Joined on Tue, Jun 7 2005

Pennsylvania, USA

Senior Member (2,788)

"The rose stays fresh in its name..." -Bernard of Morlay

Vowels, Accents

CalifJim

#107810 Sun, 12 Jun 05 05:06 AM

Typically "an" before a word beginning with "h" only happens when the "h" is silent ("hour", "honor") or when the first syllable of the "h"-word is unstressed. ("historical", "hysterical"). The first syllable of "history" is stressed, so "an" would not be used.

"a history of England"
"an historical novel which takes place in Spain"

CJ

CalifJim

Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004

California

Veteran Member (17,705)

"There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche

davkett

#107972 Sun, 12 Jun 05 03:36 PM

Thank you CalifJim.
That was the confirmation I was looking for because all I had was a gut feeling about it.

Could I ask for your view on my other post called "complicated punctuation"?

davkett

Punctuation

davkett

#109141 Wed, 15 Jun 05 02:47 PM

CalifJim,

I found this in James Ellroy's "The Big Nowhere": 'Walking in, he thought he was entering a hallucination.'

Would that be an editorial slip?

davkett