Grammar Question

[Sneaky Schnell]

I don't know if this has come up before but I have noticed a curious trend, primarily in spoken English.

Back when I was in school I was taught that the indefinite article 'a' was to be replaced with 'an' when the following word began with a vowel or a silent h.

A flower
A dog
An apple
An orange
An honour

The trend I have recently noticed is people using 'an' before words beginning with a non-silent h. I am aware that some people do not pronounce their h, so words like horrible become 'orrible, so this might explain why it has become common in spoken english.

However, my issue is that I have noticed this appearing more regularly in written text. Recently in a broadsheet newspaper I saw on the cover reference to 'An Horrific.......incident'.

Even here, in PH editorial, I noticed reference to 'An hybrid'.

I am not a member of the grammar police but please tell me I am not barmy.

Also, as an aside I received an email today which had the word probably spelt as probley. (the email was from a publishing company!!!)

[cal72]

Oh! not title

Edited by cal72 on Monday 29th November 12:22

[Ozone]

Liking the title

[Sneaky Schnell]

Ozone said:

Liking the title

I noticed and reposted. Damn, mods are fast.

[911motorsport]

'An horrific' both looks and sounds right to me; though it's grammatically incorrect

[Plotloss]

An horrific is grammatically right, non?

Same as an hotel.

[CypherP]

911motorsport said:

'An horrific' both looks and sounds right to me; though it's grammatically incorrect

Looks and sounds completely wrong to me!

[Shaw Tarse]

CypherP said:

911motorsport said:

'An horrific' both looks and sounds right to me; though it's grammatically incorrect

Looks and sounds completely wrong to me!

Cheque in to an hotel & chill!

[CypherP]

Shaw Tarse said:

CypherP said:

911motorsport said:

'An horrific' both looks and sounds right to me; though it's grammatically incorrect

Looks and sounds completely wrong to me!

Cheque in to an hotel & chill!

Is 'an' hotel correct too then? I can imagine it being correct, knowing what our interesting grammar can be like, but it just neither looks correct or sounds it when said aloud. One would never mutter 'an hotel' in conversation, would they?

I feel an office poll coming on..

[Sneaky Schnell]

Plotloss said:

An horrific is grammatically right, non?

Same as an hotel.

I don't think so.
A hotel
A horrific

An hour
An honest man

Are you one of those who doesn't pronounce the h at the beginning?

[Stu R]

Plotloss said:

An horrific is grammatically right, non?

Same as an hotel.

Both sound very wrong to me. But, I'd suggest it depends on how the first syllable of hotel / hospital / horrific is stressed. If you drop the H, it seems far more feasible to use 'an', to avoid the two stopped vowels making you sound wierd 'a o', so I'm inclined to think it's a southern language trait, much like the glottal stop is found more oop north.

Using 'an' sounds and reads completely incorrectly for me when there's a word preceeds it beginning with 'h' unless it's a silent / unstressed 'h' like 'hour'.

Edited by Stu R on Monday 29th November 12:40

[V8mate]

Sneaky Schnell said:

Even here, in PH editorial, I noticed reference to 'An hybrid'.

That's definitely wrong.

[Stu R]

V8mate said:

Sneaky Schnell said:

Even here, in PH editorial, I noticed reference to 'An hybrid'.

That's definitely wrong.

I agree, sounds like the sort of name a supernerd would give a sex doll.

[Shaw Tarse]

Stu R said:

V8mate said:

Sneaky Schnell said:

Even here, in PH editorial, I noticed reference to 'An hybrid'.

That's definitely wrong.

I agree, sounds like the sort of name a supernerd would give a sex doll.

Noooh!! http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[CypherP]

Office poll suggests 'an' hotel and 'an' horrific to be incorrect. That doesn't necessarily mean we are right though.

I'd have to agree with the OP regarding the vowel and silent 'h' rule. That's certainly the way I've been taught anyway..

[Plotloss]

Sneaky Schnell said:

Are you one of those who doesn't pronounce the h at the beginning?

No, I'm one of those with a grasp for English.

An hotel, an horrific is monastic i.e. it is proper in the Queen's English.

A hotel is the modern form, it's more functionally but less absolutely correct when considering language.

[andy400]

BUFFS!

The choice of "a" or "an" is determined by phonetic rules rather than by spelling convention. "An" is employed in speech to remove the awkward glottal stop (momentary silent pause) that is otherwise required between "a" and a following word.

[Sneaky Schnell]

I'm going to disagree with you.

An is wrong before hotel and horrific. If it was right, it would probably be right before hybrid and horse....which it's not.

[V8mate]

Sneaky Schnell said:

I'm going to disagree with you.

An is wrong before hotel and horrific. If it was right, it would probably be right before hybrid and horse....which it's not.

My kingdom for an 'orse.

[Inny]

Plotloss said:

Sneaky Schnell said:

Are you one of those who doesn't pronounce the h at the beginning?

No, I'm one of those with a grasp for English.

A hotel is the modern form, it's more functionally but less absolutely correct when considering language.

If you aspirate 'h' ('h'otel) you should use 'a'.

If you don't aspirate the 'h'('h'onest) then you probably use 'an' to prevent the potentially awkward challenge of forming two distinct, adjacent words without a consonant to break the sound pattern.

The initial sound of the second word is the key, and what your accent requires. 'A hopeless case' vs 'An 'opeless case'.

Sneaky Schnell said:

An hotel, an horrific is monastic i.e. it is proper in the Queen's English.

There is no such thing. Standard English (SE) is one dialect of many, and Received Pronounciation (RP)is one accent of many. The two exist exclusively, and although they have certain social connotations, have no social/economic/cultural boundaries.