This blog is aimed mainly at advanced students of English as a foreign / second language, although it will hopefully also be of some interest to teachers. I intend it to be a mishmash of lessons, exercises and the occasional opinionated rant about the English language.
A quick quiz to test your understanding of when to use a and when to use an as the indefinite article. Do the quiz before you read the notes which follow it.
Articles - a or an
Add the appropriate indefinite article before each word
apple
book
orange
one-pound coin
onion
union
umpire
university
UN official
Member of Parliament
MP
European country
EU commissioner
FBI agent
hour
hair
history book
herb (UK)
honest man
heir
horse
hotel
HGV licence
horrific accident
historic event
honour
LPG container
Random Idea English http://random-idea-english.blogspot.com
As I'm sure you know, the important thing is the sound of the the first letter of the word, rather than whether it's a vowel or not.
The letter U and the combination eu often include a /j/ sound at the beginning (like Y in yacht), for example both words in European Union. So these words are preceded by a
The letter O can occasionally include a /w/ sound at the beginning, for example, in one), in which case they are also preceded by a.
The letter H is generally aspirated (sounded) nowadays, so is usually preceded by a. In some words beginning with H, especially some of those that came from French, the H often used to be silent, so they would be preceded by an, but this practice has largely died out now.
Some people, however, still talk of 'an historic occasion' or of 'an horrific accident'. As they usually pronounce the H, many authorities consider this unnecessary (see the article at Oxford Dictionaries - link below), but it has to be said that this is done by some highly educated people, including some well-respected broadcasters. For more on this see my post (How I ngrammed an historic occasion), and the post by Barrie England at Caxton, both linked to below.
The only words regularly beginning with a silent H nowadays are: hour, honour, heir, honest and their derivatives. You will also hear some Americans pronounce herb with a silent H, but in British English the H is pronounced.
Some consonants, when used as initials, start with a vowel sound, for example F (eff), L (el), M (em) and N (en), so are preceded by an.
Trivia corner - in standard English, the letter H has been called aitch, without any H sound, although in Cockney dialect, it has been tradionally called haitch, with the H sounded. It seems that young British Standard English speakers are increasingly doing the same, and saying haitch. But I wouldn't regard it as standard just yet. (See the item at BBC News)
As I expected, I got ‘historic event’ and ‘horrific accident’ wrong. I precede both with ‘an’, and I have often heard ‘an historic’ on the BBC. In both words the stress falls on the second syllable, and, although the ‘h’ is pronounced it is quickly passed over. I posted on this myself a couple of years ago: http://caxton1485.wordpress.com/archive/2012-2/igh-haspirations/
Hi, Barrie - we won't say 'wrong', I don't think either of us like that word. I also posted about it some time ago, when I wrote "The consensus of expert opinion seems to be that while 'a historic ...' is more logical, as most of us pronounce the initial 'h', there are enough 'sophisticated' speakers who say 'an historic ...' for both to be allowable." Perhaps I was being too black and white, should have checked back to what I'd written before. I'll add something to that effect in the notes.
Irish I understand, but I'm intrigued at the religious angle. More importantly for this blog, which is mainly for foreign learners, and as you yourself are a teacher, how would you advise your students, who are learning standard English?
I'm thinking of what you've said elsewhere about split infinitives, which are also a shibboleth.
As I expected, I got ‘historic event’ and ‘horrific accident’ wrong. I precede both with ‘an’, and I have often heard ‘an historic’ on the BBC. In both words the stress falls on the second syllable, and, although the ‘h’ is pronounced it is quickly passed over. I posted on this myself a couple of years ago: http://caxton1485.wordpress.com/archive/2012-2/igh-haspirations/
ReplyDeleteHi, Barrie - we won't say 'wrong', I don't think either of us like that word. I also posted about it some time ago, when I wrote "The consensus of expert opinion seems to be that while 'a historic ...' is more logical, as most of us pronounce the initial 'h', there are enough 'sophisticated' speakers who say 'an historic ...' for both to be allowable." Perhaps I was being too black and white, should have checked back to what I'd written before. I'll add something to that effect in the notes.
ReplyDeleteIrish Catholics say haitch. It is a shibboleth.
ReplyDeleteIrish I understand, but I'm intrigued at the religious angle. More importantly for this blog, which is mainly for foreign learners, and as you yourself are a teacher, how would you advise your students, who are learning standard English?
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking of what you've said elsewhere about split infinitives, which are also a shibboleth.