Timeline for When should I use "a" versus "an" in front of a word beginning with the letter h?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
10 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| S Feb 14, 2021 at 12:16 | history | suggested | Fivesideddice | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
consistency, consistency, how lovely
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| Feb 14, 2021 at 9:42 | review | Suggested edits | |||
| S Feb 14, 2021 at 12:16 | |||||
| Jan 28, 2017 at 17:03 | comment | added | Edwin Ashworth | I think this answer reflects the true situation (though ignores trends). But an answer on ELU (at least nowadays) is considered inadequate if not backed by authoritative reference/s. | |
| Nov 26, 2016 at 16:24 | comment | added | Andy | @chimp where do you live? Is that common there? | |
| Jan 9, 2011 at 14:38 | comment | added | Rob Weir | There is ample evidence for 'an hotel' as well. But like any of the "an = h*" uses, they re more prevalent in British English as compared to American English, and were more common in the 19th century than today. | |
| Jan 8, 2011 at 18:42 | history | post merged (destination) | |||
| Jan 8, 2011 at 14:35 | history | edited | Rob Weir | CC BY-SA 2.5 |
deleted 1 characters in body
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| Jan 8, 2011 at 8:22 | comment | added | chimp | I agree with your first sentence but disagree with the second. I would say "an historical", "an heroic", "an hotel" etc, with 'h' pronounced. | |
| Jan 8, 2011 at 4:59 | comment | added | Cerberus - Reinstate Monica | Fowler mentions this too. But does it apply equally to all kinds of such words? For some reason I suspect it is more common with "historical" than with some other words without stress on the first syllable. Doesn't the length of the word have something to do with it? | |
| Jan 8, 2011 at 3:13 | history | answered | Rob Weir | CC BY-SA 2.5 |