In another forum, one of political a more pursuasion, the issue came up on the use of the grammatical articles “a” and “an” before words that begin with the consonant “H.”
Example, (here is the weak link to trains)
“I am an Historian that deals with railroad issues.”
versus…
“I am a Historian that deals with railroad issues.”
I was told that the use of “an” in this manner was falling out of use in American (US) and Canadian English, but was still in common practice inAussie, Kiwi and British usage.
Any takers?
Capt Carrales, “an Historian that deals with railroad issues!”
To my college engli***raining the phrase “I am a historian…” would be correct (being more declarative in content), to use “an” would be more proper in a sentance like " I am an American historian…" (being more descriptive in content) just my 2/100ths of a dollar…
Rule: Mass vs. Count; A vs. An
Words that begin with a vowel usually take ‘an’ as the indefinite article: an army, an error, an image, an orbit, an underling. Words that begin with a consonant usually take ‘a’ as the indefinite article: a carrot, a heretic, a list, a shipwreck. There are some exceptions that may cause difficulty. Words beginning with ‘u’ or ‘eu’ that have a ‘y’ sound take the indefinite article ‘a’: a eulogy, a European, a union, a unit. Words beginning with an unpronounced ‘h’ take the indefinite article ‘an’: an hour, an heir.
Now with that coming from MS Word’s Grammar checker. I would have gone with Spankybird’s explanation cause that was what I thought I had been taught. But as I thought about it the ‘an hour’ phrase went through my head so I had to check a bit more.
With all that said maybe the phrase should really be; " I like old trains." [:D]
I would use an historian but here is something even more puzzeling; I would say is that a hotel but I believe if you wi***o be absolutely correct and i’m not saying I agree with this you should say “an hotel” with h silent like “an otel”.
In Lancashire we would say, " Am thistorian t’do wit t’train thissue"
Also ‘an’ works for me as well.
Who’s Ann? I don’t employ anybody.
If you drive on the right it’s you on the wrong side of the road. Civilised people know that driving on the left is the only way.
Bonjour
Kim
[tup]
H is correctly pronounced “aitch”, not “haitch” therefore should sound like a vowel. The correct grammatical pronunciation is an before the letter ‘h’ if the following word is a noun. If it is an adjective then the ‘h’ is preceded by ‘a’…
Examples: An historian investigated the past
But: A hairy & hursuite historian needs a shave & a haircut.
I am historian is correct in my book but I am AN ambulanceman.
Incidently, I drive an american ambulance with a left-hand drive on the left hand side of the road. WHICH IS THE RIGHT SIDE !!
All the best
Ian P (the northern hemisphere one)
I think the correct terminology is “I be a history expert."
Rastun is 100% correct, in a living language, and one that stole its existence from other languages, the A vs. AN controversy is based on pronunciation in the spoken, but adheres to the rules in writing. Therefore, in my area, “I am a historian” is correct, but further west and south “I am an historian” is also correct. Strange, but true. In the military, the rule is “generally correct and free of errors”, so as long as I understand what you are trying to say, I be satisfoiyed.
[oX)]