Hai grammar nazis: "A history" or "an history"?

[ucfgrad93]

It's an "a"

An is used for words that start with a vowel. A is for consonants.

There are exceptions but that's the general rule.

EX

It is a very important assignment.

She is an amazing student.

Curious what the exceptions are. I've always used the vowel rule myself as what was taught to me at school.

I have always used this rule, and would like to know what the exceptions are too.

 

[yg17]

Sometimes common sense is the best rule. At least in American English, you would say "a history book," but "an historical novel." Partly this is simply the sound of the words, but also because (I suppose) "ahistorical" is a word with its own meaning.

Well, I don't know if it's just me, but if I say "a history" I pronounce it just like that. If I'm saying "an historical" I don't really pronounce the "h" and it sounds more like "an istorical"

Words that begin with "Eu" break the rule for me too. Like I say "I'm going on a European vacation" rather than "I'm going on an European vacation." It just doesn't sound right if you do the latter.

Speaking of European vacations, I need to stop debating grammar on a message board and finish packing, I have to leave for the airport in an hour.

 

[mkrishnan]

I have always used this rule, and would like to know what the exceptions are too.

The exceptions are pronunciation based, again, because some words used by English speakers have silent leading consonants. History is an ambiguous example, because it is pronounced both ways by English speakers.

But more directly French loan words would apply. For instance, hors d'oeuvre, I would think, would almost always be preceded by "an" in English, as that H is really never pronounced.

As I understand it, it is perfectly likewise appropriate to use "An" if an acronym or jargon term begins with a consonant that's pronounced as a letter instead of part of a phoneme, if that's the way it would be said. I would say, "An S-Video cable," because I would pronounce "S-Video" as "Ess-video." So phonically, it would start with a vowel sound, even though it's spelled with a consonant.

So I don't think there are exceptions per se. The rule is that "An" precedes any word that is pronounced with a leading vowel sound. That doesn't necessarily mean that it is spelled with one.

 

[Macky-Mac]

I have always used this rule, and would like to know what the exceptions are too.

rules and exceptions from the Purdue University Online Writing Lab;

"A" goes before all words that begin with consonants.

a cat
a dog
a purple onion
a buffalo
a big apple

with one exception: Use an before unsounded h.

an honorable peace
an honest error


"An" goes before all words that begin with vowels:

an apricot
an egg
an Indian
an orbit
an uprising

with two exceptions: When u makes the same sound as the y in you, or o makes the same sound as w in won, then a is used.

a union
a united front
a unicorn
a used napkin
a U.S. ship
a one-legged man

Note: The choice of article is actually based upon the phonetic (sound) quality of the first letter in a word, not on the orthographic (written) representation of the letter. If the first letter makes a vowel-type sound, you use "an"; if the first letter would makes a consonant-type sound, you use "a." So, if you consider the rule from a phonetic perspective, there aren't any exceptions. Since the 'h' hasn't any phonetic representation, no audible sound, in the first exception, the sound that follows the article is a vowel; consequently, 'an' is used. In the second exception, the word-initial 'y' sound (unicorn) is actually a glide [j] phonetically, which has consonantal properties; consequently, it is treated as a consonant, requiring 'a'.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

I would add that, in American vernacular at least, people default to "a" (often pronounced "uh") even when they shouldn't.

It is an historic moment.

is more commonly rendered as

It's [uh] historic moment.