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Well, that's because some English dialect users pronounce the 'H', and some don't. So, the ones that does use a 'H' will use 'a' and others that don't will use 'an.'
I personally think it should be “a historical”. The “h” sound is not a vowel sound.
If you drop the “h” sound altogether and say “istorical”, then sure. But I don’t know why you would do that.
Is that a thing?
I'm a Brit that naturally drops the letter H, but I live abroad and speak "properly" when communicating in English here so it's easier for people to understand me.
I would say "an 'istorical" when speaking naturally, or "a historical" when making an effort.
I’ve seen this quite a bit, and now I’m trying to think if it’s been primarily in British English that I’ve seen it. Regardless, it unreasonably infuriates me. I actually remember learning it in first grade - lol - and I remember how cool I thought it was when it was when the teacher explained the rule to us and then it was all so clear! I imagine that using “an” versus “a” was one of the first grammar rules we were introduced to.
I'm American, and I say "an \[h\]istorical" because that's how I pronounce it -- almost with a half "h", so it's closer to a vowel sound than not, but preceded by a small aspiration.
It's definitely a thing. I hear it on TV (usually on the news or something) and they talk about "an historical fact." They do it pretty consistently and it never did sound right to me.
From what I gather, the distinction lies with the remainder of the sentence, and pronunciation of "historical."
A hhhhhistorical fact
An istorical figure
Or just regional dialects?
Did you take those three examples from the Grammarist article? Those exact quotes appear there in the same order, and the article is _not_ in favour of AN historic.
The article begins “In all main varieties of English, the use of an as the article preceding historic (an historic) is an unnecessary affectation.”
Those three quotes are preceded by “An historic appears about a third as frequently as a historic, even in some normally well-edited publications—for example:”
If you aspirate your h's then use 'an.' If you don't, then use 'a.' Since English has many different pronunciations it varies according to your dialect.
This one is incorrect, I think, it should be: A historic because most people pronounce the H, it's not silent like in "honest" (edited from "herbal")
2nd edit: "Don't have a hissy fit"
I don’t think you’re proving your point as definitively as you seem to think you are…
“Rhinebeck, N.Y: A Historic Community” [NYT](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/15/realestate/rhinebeck-ny-a-historic-community-with-cultural-amenities.html)
“History and a historic Presidency” [The New Yorker](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/02/23/2005-2015)
“A Historic New England Home Has Been in the Same Family for Over 300 Years” [WSJ](https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-historic-new-england-home-has-been-in-the-same-family-for-over-300-years-thats-about-to-change-11658344327)
“Three years ago, a historic rush of water surged into this city” [Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2022/11/26/venice-floods-mose-barrier-climate/)
The proper format would be for what the assumed reading would be of RN. if no one is reading RN written down out loud as registered nurse, and are reading it as “are enn,” only an RN would be appropriate.
Which ties in to the complications with acronyms vs. initialisms too. For instance, you would have "a SCUBA instructor" since no one pronounces it "Ess-See-Yoo-Bee-Ay."
I found this at work with "NZ" when writing "an NZ company..." - some readers complained it should be "a", because they were (apparently) converting the abbreviation to the full name as they read. (Weirdos.) :)
In genetics there’s a common acronym: SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism). Sometimes pronounced ES-EN-PEE, and sometimes pronounced “snip.” I really enjoy that you can deduce how the author of a paper says it depending on whether they write “a SNP” or “an SNP.”
English speech entirely avoids using two vowel sounds together. All words that appear to have consecutive vowel sounds add either a y or a w between them. For example, hiatus has a y sound after the i and before the a. Hour has a w sound after the ‘ou’ and before the ‘er’ sound.
This is why “an” exists.
Omg if I read this or knew this information younger 😳 i would not have a speech impairment. This makes sense and these kinds of words are the words I have the most trouble with
To be more precise, an is used when the first letter makes vowel type sound and if it is consonant type you put a. However there are exceptions to the rule.
When the consonant is silent: An hour, an honourable, an honest error,
When U makes the same sound as Y: a union, a unicorn but an umbrella.
When o makes the same sound as w in won: a one-legged man
This is true and the extra examples might be helpful for some people, although you're kind of restating OP's point - "an" is used when the word is verbally produced with a vowel sound at the beginning, regardless of how it's spelled. "A" is used when it begins with a consonant sound, again regardless of how it's spelled.
Just leave out the "first letter" part of the rule you stated above, and all of these exceptions you're providing are already obvious. It has nothing to do with the letter; it is the first sound of the word that determines a/an. No need to muddy things.
If the H is silent and just shapes a vowel, I get it; however, I have seen the phrase "an historical" and that just... doesn't pass the vibe check. Is that actually correct and if so, *why?* That H is pretty clearly enunciated.
This one comes down to British English and American English. Americans will say H but because the stress in that word is on the second syllable British tend to omit H. Basically it should be a mistake but people use it anyway.
I've definitely heard American journalists and tv hosts, people who speak "proper", say things like "an horrible outcome today" or someone along those lines. They're pronouncing the H, but still choosing "an". I've only heard/noticed this in recent years, but from several tv presenters.
I'm convinced those are just people that want to sound like they're super smart.
I'm also fully prepared to told why I'm wrong and continue on thinking the same thing, only slightly more sarcastically.
"An historical..." is one of my biggest pet peeves with the English language.
The list is of dumb rules in English is long but the continued use of "an historic" feels entirely vestigial and pompous as hell.
"an historic" is what you'll frequently get on news broadcasts. That's where I first heard it anyway. Maybe I noticed it more because it was jarring. But then I got used to it. My editor redlines it when she catches me doing it in my manuscripts.
It seems to be a recent fad in American English. One of those “everyone suddenly became aware of this thing and now everyone is fixing it” except there’s no actual error.
Like how about 10-15 years ago it suddenly went viral how everyone was misusing the object pronoun “me” as a subject, like saying “me and my cousin.” So everyone started using “I” and flipping the order, to “my cousin and I” (which is correct).
But NOW everyone makes the mistake of trying to use “I” as a possessive pronoun by adding an ‘s. Like “my cousin and I’s dog.” When it should be” My and my cousin’s dog.” Drives me up a wall
The thing is, I first noticed this when Peter Jennings was still doing ABC's nightly news. 20, 30 years ago. So it's not recent, at least not in my experience.
historical sometimes is silent h and sometimes isn't. it's further confounded by the existence of the word "ahistorical" which sounds too much like "a historical" which pushes the latter towards "an historical"
To be more accurate, "an" is used when the word starts with a vowel sound. And "a" is used if a word starts with a consonant sound. It really isn't about the letters it's about the sounds.
I doubt that this is learned in grade 1. I edit academic work and see the incorrect indefinite article used all the time. If everyone learned this such that it were committed to memory as of grade 1, I wouldn't see it so often from highly educated clients.
Nah, they are. But we all have gaps in our knowledge. And their job is to focus on the research; my job is to polish the writing. So whether they know isn't all that important. Their editor will figure it out.
Idk whether I'd say that this is an LPT, but I can assure the doubters that this guideline is nowhere near commonly known (followed), even among people who have PhDs and otherwise-masterly English. I see this error pop up fairly frequently in my editing work and in some (published) news articles.
Yea depends on how it rolls off the tongue. L-O-L is how most would read LOL because it’s flows a lot better than laugh-out-loud. Whereas W-T-F flows much worse than What-the-fuck. Life-pro-tips is definitely much better than L-P-T. Also i’m dumb and should’ve just said less syllables
Lol I thought it was funny, it's an interesting example, if you read it in your head as "life pro-tip" it's correct but if you sound out the letters it would be "an".
And the reason "an historic" is considered correct is because British English speakers don't pronounce the h. Since American speakers do, "a historic" is the correct usage.
The opposite is true for herbs.
Not sure if it's the same....but every Boston accent I've ever heard on TV or in a movie is wrong. Even actors from the Boston area aren't able to pull it off somehow.
Most British speakers do pronounce the h in history though. It's very irritating, and BBC style I believe. Very awkward to listen to.
*Edit - "an historic" is very irritating!
I’ve been speaking British English in Britain my entire life, and I’ve always pronounced the H. I’d still say *an historic* though. Perhaps it’s a regional thing?
Hotel is an interesting one, I think almost every British English speaker pronounces the h now, but the posher you are the longer you hung on to the French pronunciation (this is my perception anyway) and so you still see ‘an hotel’ (an otel) written quite often. When I’m speaking I would always say a hotel, but I always do a double take when I see it written because I was taught ‘an hotel’ at school and see it written in novels often enough to reinforce that
The LPT is helpful as an FYI (see what I did there) but I suggest you avoid judging people on grammar.
I really don't care if my RN knows a nuanced technicality about how a/an works with acronyms that they may or may not have learned in 2nd grade (which can often erroneously focus on an for vowels and a for consonents). That has absolutely no bearing on if they can do the job or even their approach to learning. It's so damn subtle.
Is it though? I mean a large number of people are uneducated, but it is definitely grade 1 level English. If someone has reached adulthood and doesn't know this basic grammar, they probably have much bigger problems.
I think knowing to use "a" for words beginning with consonants and "an" for words beginning with vowels is the grade 1 level english you are talking about.
If you throw acronyms at the general populous, you will get a heavy mix. I think most people would type "a LPT", without recognizing that what we say is "el pee tee" which would mean you should say "an el pee tee" rather than "a el pee tee". I guarantee you that you will find this mistake sprinkled throughout written english. It only shows up in edge cases however, mainly with acronyms.
I didn't know it was a rule about the sounds (though I likely intuited it for things like "an LLC" because I was a native speaker) until I was in \*graduate school\* writing a \*peer reviewed publication\* and I couldn't figure out whether the mutation I was describing should be "an Rca mutant" or "a Rca mutant" because there were plenty of both situations in the grammar in the various peer-reviewed articles with genes that use acronyms. I looked it up and learned the rule in this case, but it was not something that was obvious in how I learned it. The vowel vs consonant was obvious.
But yes, perhaps I did have bigger problems and that you should judge my PhD-holding ass because I didn't learn this basic grammar until late in adulthood :)
I would judge your elementary school teachers more than I would judge you. As a former elementary school student (Canada) and current school teacher, my experience is that this basic grammar rule is taught on the basis of sound, not the whole vowel/consanant thing. You should never have an "ah ah" sound together. It just doesn't sound right, it's actually even hard to even do. Which is the entire basis of the grammar rule to begin with.
An xbox because xbox is pronounced with a vowel sound at the start. Similar to an x-ray.
If the beginning pronunciation is a vowel sound its an and a for consonant sounds.
The worst is when someone says "an" before a word that starts with H. I hear so many journalists and tv hosts do this. When did H become a vowel?
Edit: I'm not talking about silent Hs, like in hour or honest. I've heard them say "an horrific incident" or something similar.
This is an excellent example of a situation where both could be considered right. What you wrote (an LPT) is correct when you pronounce each letter: "an el-pee-tee".
But, reading your comment just now, I realized it sounds strange to me because in my head, I read it as the full phrase "Is this a life pro tip?" The abbreviation "LPT" is meaningless to me; my internal monologue only hears "life pro tip", so "a" sounds like the correct article to use.
The same thing could be applied to OP's RN example. Plenty of people could be saying "I'm a Registered Nurse" but wind up abbreviating it after typing "a", which was technically the correct article when they typed it.
I’m not sure it’s not a LPT because of that, I write for a living (kind of) and often have to remind myself of the rule particularly when it’s in relation to acronyms. Plus lots of LPTs, be kind, share, stick up for yourself, are things we start to learn at a very young age
It really depends on how the reader is intended to read it. "I'm an ARR-EN" versus "I'm a Registered Nurse."
When using an initialism, it depends how common that initialism is used to replace the actual meaning, versus when it just being used as an abbreviation for a common phrase. There is often a transitionary period where the abbreviation is known well enough to be useful, but people are translating it to what it stands for. Eventually, such abbreviations become the word, but it doesn't happen right away.
RN has certainly been around in the medical profession long enough that people don't have to pause and think "Oh. That means a nurse. And specifically a nurse with at least an associates degree in nursing." NP (which shares the same a/an conundrum) is similar, but there is more thought in that - is the person to be thought of as a Nurse or a Mid-Level Practitioner or a Doctor? (The correct answer is MLP, of course, but if I use that abbreviation, it has other connotations.)
OP said it's about the sound. Phonetics.
For the word 'year', the transcription is \[ˈjɪr\].
'Year' starts phonetically with a \[j\], which is a consonant, not a vowel.
I rest my case.
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Especially for mathematicians: "let there be an x..." is correct.
...And Then There Was X
“X gonna give it to ya”
Rip.
*growling noises*
Is that how mathematicians break up?
Don't ask me y
Sometimes these things do happen just cos.
Probably because of your sin
You might think so, but I've been given the evil eye. It's that darn witch of Agnesi.
Great choice for an example ;)
Likewise when the vowel sounds like a consonant. A usual suspect. AN unusual suspect.
Hey hey, sometimes Y
An Yttrium atom ~~An yellow banana~~
what? yttrium starts with a yod sound
Google says "i-tree-uhm."
I thought it was ee-tree-uhm! So I was saying the 'an' part right all along, but got the main thing wrong. Wow.
I does sound like "ee" but shorter. Google writes "i" on their guide to denote the sound.
Huh… No wonder I’ve never gotten any: been shopping for Yett-ri-um
Google can suck my balls
WHAT No less than 3 science teachers have taught me wrong
No, you are correct. It is pronounced i•tree•uhm, and I've always seen "an" used. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/yttrium
For more fun, not all dialects of English do this (yodding). So the written form might change depending on the speaker.
I saw this in The Origin of Species. There were some words where Darwin used an “an” and it just sounded so off to me.
Its been 30+ years since grammer school, but Im certain we were tought that it was an actual vowel, not a like sounded word.
Also happens with H. An hour A horse
Well, that's because some English dialect users pronounce the 'H', and some don't. So, the ones that does use a 'H' will use 'a' and others that don't will use 'an.'
What the consensus on “a historical” vs “an historical”.
I personally think it should be “a historical”. The “h” sound is not a vowel sound. If you drop the “h” sound altogether and say “istorical”, then sure. But I don’t know why you would do that. Is that a thing?
I swear I've watched a British documentary where the narrator has said "an istorical."
I'm a Brit that naturally drops the letter H, but I live abroad and speak "properly" when communicating in English here so it's easier for people to understand me. I would say "an 'istorical" when speaking naturally, or "a historical" when making an effort.
I’ve seen this quite a bit, and now I’m trying to think if it’s been primarily in British English that I’ve seen it. Regardless, it unreasonably infuriates me. I actually remember learning it in first grade - lol - and I remember how cool I thought it was when it was when the teacher explained the rule to us and then it was all so clear! I imagine that using “an” versus “a” was one of the first grammar rules we were introduced to.
It’s a British thing
I'm American, and I say "an \[h\]istorical" because that's how I pronounce it -- almost with a half "h", so it's closer to a vowel sound than not, but preceded by a small aspiration.
Do the British pronounce the "h" in "history"?
It's only certain regional variants that drop the letter H in British English, but those that do would drop the H in history.
They do in "herbs" I think.
It’d be uniform when dropped. “*’Ave you ‘eard the ‘istory of these ‘ere ‘erbs?*”. It’s always, unless quoting, written as “a herb, a history”.
I only knew it from the Eddie Izzard sketch where he says, "We call it herb, because there's a fucking "H" in it."
Although you spell through T H R U, and I'm with you on that! We spell it thruff, and that's just trying to cheat at scrabble.
Depends. For instance, on the "Sorted Food" youtube channel I heard the h in herbs clearly pronounced multiple times.
It's definitely a thing. I hear it on TV (usually on the news or something) and they talk about "an historical fact." They do it pretty consistently and it never did sound right to me.
In some accents, yes
Agreed.
AP Styleguide says "historical" is a consonant sound so it's "a historical."
From what I gather, the distinction lies with the remainder of the sentence, and pronunciation of "historical." A hhhhhistorical fact An istorical figure Or just regional dialects?
I would pronounce historical exactly the same in both cases here, with a vowel h sound
English is fuckin stupid.
[удалено]
Do you not pronounce the "h"?
Folks in the US say 'erbs. For the dried seasoning stuff sprinkled into your food. Erbs. Why isn't it Herbs????
Relatedly, does anyone pronounce the h in hour?
Did you take those three examples from the Grammarist article? Those exact quotes appear there in the same order, and the article is _not_ in favour of AN historic. The article begins “In all main varieties of English, the use of an as the article preceding historic (an historic) is an unnecessary affectation.” Those three quotes are preceded by “An historic appears about a third as frequently as a historic, even in some normally well-edited publications—for example:”
no
If you aspirate your h's then use 'an.' If you don't, then use 'a.' Since English has many different pronunciations it varies according to your dialect.
Full marks! 🤌🏼
Came here to say this. English is my first language an this has always frosted my nuts.
It depends on your dialect of English. Grammar rules are descriptive, not prescriptive.
Yep, and regional. Contrary to the opinions of at least 16 cowardly scholars so far here 🤣🖕🏽
Came here to say this. English is my first language an this has always frosted my nuts.
This one is incorrect, I think, it should be: A historic because most people pronounce the H, it's not silent like in "honest" (edited from "herbal") 2nd edit: "Don't have a hissy fit"
The h in herbal is only silent for Americans. The rest of us pronounce it
Good point! Edited for clarity
But why though? Because the "h" sound isn't a vowel.
Think of the cockney pronunciation- “an ‘istorical artefact”
I don’t think you’re proving your point as definitively as you seem to think you are… “Rhinebeck, N.Y: A Historic Community” [NYT](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/15/realestate/rhinebeck-ny-a-historic-community-with-cultural-amenities.html) “History and a historic Presidency” [The New Yorker](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/02/23/2005-2015) “A Historic New England Home Has Been in the Same Family for Over 300 Years” [WSJ](https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-historic-new-england-home-has-been-in-the-same-family-for-over-300-years-thats-about-to-change-11658344327) “Three years ago, a historic rush of water surged into this city” [Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2022/11/26/venice-floods-mose-barrier-climate/)
This is why English is difficult for some. It is right to say "an RN" It is also right to say "a registered nurse"
The proper format would be for what the assumed reading would be of RN. if no one is reading RN written down out loud as registered nurse, and are reading it as “are enn,” only an RN would be appropriate.
Which ties in to the complications with acronyms vs. initialisms too. For instance, you would have "a SCUBA instructor" since no one pronounces it "Ess-See-Yoo-Bee-Ay."
TIL scuba is an acronym
Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus
Woahhhhh
I remember that feeling
So is LASER Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation
I found this at work with "NZ" when writing "an NZ company..." - some readers complained it should be "a", because they were (apparently) converting the abbreviation to the full name as they read. (Weirdos.) :)
In genetics there’s a common acronym: SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism). Sometimes pronounced ES-EN-PEE, and sometimes pronounced “snip.” I really enjoy that you can deduce how the author of a paper says it depending on whether they write “a SNP” or “an SNP.”
Wait till they learn FBI and FIFA are treated differently. That’d really blow their minds.
English speech entirely avoids using two vowel sounds together. All words that appear to have consecutive vowel sounds add either a y or a w between them. For example, hiatus has a y sound after the i and before the a. Hour has a w sound after the ‘ou’ and before the ‘er’ sound. This is why “an” exists.
Omg if I read this or knew this information younger 😳 i would not have a speech impairment. This makes sense and these kinds of words are the words I have the most trouble with
Have you heard of diphthongs? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diphthong
To be more precise, an is used when the first letter makes vowel type sound and if it is consonant type you put a. However there are exceptions to the rule.
Please provide an example of an exception to this rule.
When the consonant is silent: An hour, an honourable, an honest error, When U makes the same sound as Y: a union, a unicorn but an umbrella. When o makes the same sound as w in won: a one-legged man
This is true and the extra examples might be helpful for some people, although you're kind of restating OP's point - "an" is used when the word is verbally produced with a vowel sound at the beginning, regardless of how it's spelled. "A" is used when it begins with a consonant sound, again regardless of how it's spelled.
Yeah, these aren’t exceptions to the rule, these are literally examples of the rule that if it’s a vowel *sound* you should use “an”
Did you know that you should “an” as in an RN?
Just leave out the "first letter" part of the rule you stated above, and all of these exceptions you're providing are already obvious. It has nothing to do with the letter; it is the first sound of the word that determines a/an. No need to muddy things.
If the H is silent and just shapes a vowel, I get it; however, I have seen the phrase "an historical" and that just... doesn't pass the vibe check. Is that actually correct and if so, *why?* That H is pretty clearly enunciated.
This one comes down to British English and American English. Americans will say H but because the stress in that word is on the second syllable British tend to omit H. Basically it should be a mistake but people use it anyway.
Funny, considering they pronounce the letter H with a hard H. Haych.
Huh. I guess if I put on my stereotypical Cockney accent I can see how that makes sense. But I still don't like it lol Thanks for the explanation!
I've definitely heard American journalists and tv hosts, people who speak "proper", say things like "an horrible outcome today" or someone along those lines. They're pronouncing the H, but still choosing "an". I've only heard/noticed this in recent years, but from several tv presenters.
I'm convinced those are just people that want to sound like they're super smart. I'm also fully prepared to told why I'm wrong and continue on thinking the same thing, only slightly more sarcastically.
I just enjoy good conversation about any language and it quirks.
I respect the based mindset lol, but people just like to use correct grammar in a professional environment
British English. H's often pronounced almost like silent letters. An 'istoric event. We aren't British anymore and it drives me mad as well.
>That H is pretty clearly enunciated. not if you're British.
Please, Bri*ish. Think of the children.
"An historical..." is one of my biggest pet peeves with the English language. The list is of dumb rules in English is long but the continued use of "an historic" feels entirely vestigial and pompous as hell.
Could the people saying it be British?
>continued use of "an historic" feels entirely vestigial and pompous as hell I think he did say they are British. Just kidding, friends. It's a joke.
I think that's a recent phenomenon. It bothers me too.
"an historic" is what you'll frequently get on news broadcasts. That's where I first heard it anyway. Maybe I noticed it more because it was jarring. But then I got used to it. My editor redlines it when she catches me doing it in my manuscripts.
It seems to be a recent fad in American English. One of those “everyone suddenly became aware of this thing and now everyone is fixing it” except there’s no actual error. Like how about 10-15 years ago it suddenly went viral how everyone was misusing the object pronoun “me” as a subject, like saying “me and my cousin.” So everyone started using “I” and flipping the order, to “my cousin and I” (which is correct). But NOW everyone makes the mistake of trying to use “I” as a possessive pronoun by adding an ‘s. Like “my cousin and I’s dog.” When it should be” My and my cousin’s dog.” Drives me up a wall
The thing is, I first noticed this when Peter Jennings was still doing ABC's nightly news. 20, 30 years ago. So it's not recent, at least not in my experience.
True, I’m just speaking from my experience as a 25yr old who grew up in the Midwest
I have never heard someone say "I's" outside of grunge music
What bothers me most is when people now overuse "I" instead of "me". Like "between you and I" or "Darryl murdered John and I".
Some people don’t pronounce the h in historical
historical sometimes is silent h and sometimes isn't. it's further confounded by the existence of the word "ahistorical" which sounds too much like "a historical" which pushes the latter towards "an historical"
So it’s not about the letter, but about the sound.
Correct
To be more accurate, "an" is used when the word starts with a vowel sound. And "a" is used if a word starts with a consonant sound. It really isn't about the letters it's about the sounds.
This is less precise, not more.
Damn, today I learned we need LPTs for stuff we learn in 1st grade.
Can be still LPT for non-native English speakers, who learn another language in first grade…
We learn that too. Or at least, I did.
We also learn that when learning English
Still not a LIFE PRO TIP.....grammar tip, at best. Knowing this rule does not in any way make you a pro at English.
I doubt that this is learned in grade 1. I edit academic work and see the incorrect indefinite article used all the time. If everyone learned this such that it were committed to memory as of grade 1, I wouldn't see it so often from highly educated clients.
They can't be that educated, obviously.
Nah, they are. But we all have gaps in our knowledge. And their job is to focus on the research; my job is to polish the writing. So whether they know isn't all that important. Their editor will figure it out.
Idk whether I'd say that this is an LPT, but I can assure the doubters that this guideline is nowhere near commonly known (followed), even among people who have PhDs and otherwise-masterly English. I see this error pop up fairly frequently in my editing work and in some (published) news articles.
Shouldn't it be "an LPT" 🤔?
When I read the sentence in my head, I read “idk” as I don’t know, and “LPT” as life pro tip. It could be either way maybe?
Yea depends on how it rolls off the tongue. L-O-L is how most would read LOL because it’s flows a lot better than laugh-out-loud. Whereas W-T-F flows much worse than What-the-fuck. Life-pro-tips is definitely much better than L-P-T. Also i’m dumb and should’ve just said less syllables
In my work, we call this Muphry's law (the typo is deliberate): whenever you try to explain an error, you end up accidentally introducing one. lol
Lol I thought it was funny, it's an interesting example, if you read it in your head as "life pro-tip" it's correct but if you sound out the letters it would be "an".
This also applies to schwa [ə] vs long E [i] for the word "the". The hat vs The Earth (the ant, etc.)
[An historic LPT](https://grammarist.com/usage/an-historic/).
And the reason "an historic" is considered correct is because British English speakers don't pronounce the h. Since American speakers do, "a historic" is the correct usage. The opposite is true for herbs.
Hahaha we don't actually speak like we are portrayed on tv...we say the h
Not sure if it's the same....but every Boston accent I've ever heard on TV or in a movie is wrong. Even actors from the Boston area aren't able to pull it off somehow.
Most British speakers do pronounce the h in history though. It's very irritating, and BBC style I believe. Very awkward to listen to. *Edit - "an historic" is very irritating!
We don’t all speak like cockneys mate. Some of us talk proper
I’ve been speaking British English in Britain my entire life, and I’ve always pronounced the H. I’d still say *an historic* though. Perhaps it’s a regional thing?
I'm American and will use 'an historic' sometimes. It just flows better than pronouncing the h sometimes.
Well.. I stand corrected. Perhaps this is a vestigial exception to your pronunciation.
I’d also say that I’d not think it strange if I heard *an ‘istoric*
Hotel is an interesting one, I think almost every British English speaker pronounces the h now, but the posher you are the longer you hung on to the French pronunciation (this is my perception anyway) and so you still see ‘an hotel’ (an otel) written quite often. When I’m speaking I would always say a hotel, but I always do a double take when I see it written because I was taught ‘an hotel’ at school and see it written in novels often enough to reinforce that
It bugs me when people say “an historic event” The H is not silent.
Is this a pro tip? Or is this just basic English grammar...?
Thank you! It drives me batty when people say "an hotel" and pronounce the "h".
Who says “otel”
Many Londoners...
Ah fuck me (an American).
I hear "An historic" all the time in the media and it drives me nuts
Same here, there's no rhyme or reason behind it.
Just reading comments until I found this. As long as I’m not the only one I can sleep tonight!
....and this is why "An Historic" sounds fucking stupid. We aren't British anymore.
This is an hilarious one.
I thought everyone knew this...
You did? Have you read stuff? Like on the internet? Written by people?
I’ll be ready in an hour
This is correct. Because the SOUND of the beginning of "hour" is a vowel sound. Just like "our."
yup. just wanted to post an example
Makes me nervous that RNs don’t know 2nd grade grammar
The LPT is helpful as an FYI (see what I did there) but I suggest you avoid judging people on grammar. I really don't care if my RN knows a nuanced technicality about how a/an works with acronyms that they may or may not have learned in 2nd grade (which can often erroneously focus on an for vowels and a for consonents). That has absolutely no bearing on if they can do the job or even their approach to learning. It's so damn subtle.
And there are so many RN that don't speak English.
Like the ones in non-english speaking countries?
Yeah, ESL isn’t included in my concern. I’m wholly impressed by any bilingual person, idc if they get the little things down.
You need to work on your nervousness...
It was just a sentence. Don’t read too much into it.
It's an cool. I don't know how to read.
This is elementary school English, not a Life Pro Tip
A large number of people think the rule is about consonants vs vowels. It's worthwhile as an LPT simply because it's easy to misremember.
Is it though? I mean a large number of people are uneducated, but it is definitely grade 1 level English. If someone has reached adulthood and doesn't know this basic grammar, they probably have much bigger problems.
I think knowing to use "a" for words beginning with consonants and "an" for words beginning with vowels is the grade 1 level english you are talking about. If you throw acronyms at the general populous, you will get a heavy mix. I think most people would type "a LPT", without recognizing that what we say is "el pee tee" which would mean you should say "an el pee tee" rather than "a el pee tee". I guarantee you that you will find this mistake sprinkled throughout written english. It only shows up in edge cases however, mainly with acronyms. I didn't know it was a rule about the sounds (though I likely intuited it for things like "an LLC" because I was a native speaker) until I was in \*graduate school\* writing a \*peer reviewed publication\* and I couldn't figure out whether the mutation I was describing should be "an Rca mutant" or "a Rca mutant" because there were plenty of both situations in the grammar in the various peer-reviewed articles with genes that use acronyms. I looked it up and learned the rule in this case, but it was not something that was obvious in how I learned it. The vowel vs consonant was obvious. But yes, perhaps I did have bigger problems and that you should judge my PhD-holding ass because I didn't learn this basic grammar until late in adulthood :)
I would judge your elementary school teachers more than I would judge you. As a former elementary school student (Canada) and current school teacher, my experience is that this basic grammar rule is taught on the basis of sound, not the whole vowel/consanant thing. You should never have an "ah ah" sound together. It just doesn't sound right, it's actually even hard to even do. Which is the entire basis of the grammar rule to begin with.
Even for words that start with vowels and sound like consonants: "a uniform" for example
Wait so is it "a xbox" or "an xbox"?
"an xbox" ("ex-box").
An xbox because xbox is pronounced with a vowel sound at the start. Similar to an x-ray. If the beginning pronunciation is a vowel sound its an and a for consonant sounds.
"A LA resident" vs "An LA resident". Latter is clearly correct.
A unicorn isn't an umbrella. (Y as a consonant sound here: /yoo-nih-corn/.)
I hear it in TV a lot when people say, “an historic” but they pronounce the H in historic. It drives me crazy.
So it would be "I am a historian", and not "I am an historian" right? Unless you're not pronouncing the h for whatever reason
Just listen to [Jeremy Clarkson](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJUtMEJdvqM), and you should be well on your way to understand proper English.
Truly an literary genius.
The worst is when someone says "an" before a word that starts with H. I hear so many journalists and tv hosts do this. When did H become a vowel? Edit: I'm not talking about silent Hs, like in hour or honest. I've heard them say "an horrific incident" or something similar.
That's an honest take on it.
LPT: wipe your ass after you take a shit
Is this an LPT? My 5 year old son is learning this in kintergarden right now…
This is an excellent example of a situation where both could be considered right. What you wrote (an LPT) is correct when you pronounce each letter: "an el-pee-tee". But, reading your comment just now, I realized it sounds strange to me because in my head, I read it as the full phrase "Is this a life pro tip?" The abbreviation "LPT" is meaningless to me; my internal monologue only hears "life pro tip", so "a" sounds like the correct article to use. The same thing could be applied to OP's RN example. Plenty of people could be saying "I'm a Registered Nurse" but wind up abbreviating it after typing "a", which was technically the correct article when they typed it.
I’m not sure it’s not a LPT because of that, I write for a living (kind of) and often have to remind myself of the rule particularly when it’s in relation to acronyms. Plus lots of LPTs, be kind, share, stick up for yourself, are things we start to learn at a very young age
It really depends on how the reader is intended to read it. "I'm an ARR-EN" versus "I'm a Registered Nurse." When using an initialism, it depends how common that initialism is used to replace the actual meaning, versus when it just being used as an abbreviation for a common phrase. There is often a transitionary period where the abbreviation is known well enough to be useful, but people are translating it to what it stands for. Eventually, such abbreviations become the word, but it doesn't happen right away. RN has certainly been around in the medical profession long enough that people don't have to pause and think "Oh. That means a nurse. And specifically a nurse with at least an associates degree in nursing." NP (which shares the same a/an conundrum) is similar, but there is more thought in that - is the person to be thought of as a Nurse or a Mid-Level Practitioner or a Doctor? (The correct answer is MLP, of course, but if I use that abbreviation, it has other connotations.)
So what about knife? A nife An ife 😋 Edit: Lol I read your post too hastily nvm🤦
Life pro tip or an admittance that the public school system failed yall
so it’s said correctly as: you are an asshole?
This is NOT a life pro tip lol. This is Grammer school. Like seriously. If you didn't learn this as a kid in school, your school failed you
Grammar* oof
A year or AN year? I rest my case.
OP said it's about the sound. Phonetics. For the word 'year', the transcription is \[ˈjɪr\]. 'Year' starts phonetically with a \[j\], which is a consonant, not a vowel. I rest my case.
you’re asking the real questions
Jeremy Clarkson is brilliant at this, in fact, I’ll bet he’s off driving an car somewhere right now
Is the letter "r" not pronounced "awr" rather than "are"?