A an: Encyclopedia II - A an - Using An Instead of A Before a Pronounced H

A an - Using An Instead of A Before a Pronounced H

The form "an" is always prescribed before words beginning with a silent "h," such as "honorable," "heir," "hour," and, in American English, "herb." Some British dialects (e.g., Cockney) silence all initial "h's" and so employ "an" all the time: e.g., "an 'elmet". Many British usage books, therefore, discount a usage which some Americans (amongst others) employ as being a derivative of the Cockney. The reason is that the indefinite article "a" is pronounced either of two ways: as a schwa or as the letter itself is pronounced, "long a." Some words beginning with the letter "h" have the primary stress on the second or later syllable. Pronouncing "a" as a schwa can diminish the sound of the schwa and melt into the vowel. Pronouncing it as a "long a" does not do this, but the pronunciation cannot be prescribed, the word is spelled the same for either. Hence "an" may be seen in such phrases as "an historic," "an heroic," and yes, "an hôtel of excellence" was the by-line in an advertisment in a New York City newspaper. But the word "humongous" is slang, and this particular is of no concern for it.

Such was also the case for some other words which take the place of the article. "My" and "thy" became "mine" and "thine," as in "mine uncle."

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Using An Instead of A Before a Pronounced H", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki