# Grammar: A vs An? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 24, 2015, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-a-vs-an/710757 "2015-01-24T15:18:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-a-vs-an/710757/41 "2015-01-25T00:47:29Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > All’s I’ve ever heard is You See Ell A (Em Oh You Ess Eeeee). **[Voice of Arthur Fonzarelli]:** A-y-y-y-y-y! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-a-vs-an/710757/42 "2015-01-25T00:47:38Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > Not sure if the long or short is more prevalent in the UK, but it seems to be about 50/50 here in the US… If you listen to recordings of natural, connected speech, you won’t find 50% of people pronouncing the indefinite article as /ai/. The only context for that is when they’re demonstrating contrast (“It’s A answer, not THE answer” etc.). Some people might do that as an affectation, (to be more formal, because they think it’s more educated, etc.) but they stop pronouncing it like that when they return to normal speech. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-a-vs-an/710757/43 "2015-01-25T00:48:20Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > \< . . . \> > > If a word is already a regular plural (or sounds like it), you can write the plural possessive with or without the additional “s”: “I love Mel Brooks’s movies” or “I love Mel Brooks’ movies.” Both variants are perfectly acceptable, though the second may be bit easier to pronounce. Not so sure of this. I think Brooks’s is right and Brooks’ is officially wrong (cite?) but commonly spoken that way because Brooks’s sounds awkward. > [@](#): > > Nowadays, I hear the final “s” dropped a lot of times when it shouldn’t be, the most awful example I can think of being in the case of “Jesus”: “Mark was one of Jesus’ disciples.” > > WTF is a “Jesus disciple”?!? Clearly, the correct pronunciation is “Jesus-_ez_,” because Jesus neither is nor sounds like a plural form (which in this case would be “Jesuses”: one Jesus, two Jesuses). The only way to write it that makes sense is “Jesus’s.” I’m even less sure if that’s right. I don’t see that much difference between Brooks’ (which you say is okay) versus Jesus’ (which you say is clearly wrong). I don’t think everybody necessarily pronounces it like Jesus’s (Jesuses?) Anyway, if I wanted to write the plural of Jesus, I would probably get all cutesy and write Jesi. And I suppose that our two (or more?) **terentii** would each, individually, be a **terentius** , right? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-a-vs-an/710757/44 "2015-01-25T00:56:34Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Also _café_, _buffet_ and _garage_. But this only applies to relatively recent borrowings. One way to spot a PBS aficionado in the US is to ask him where he parks his car and has his morning coffee. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-a-vs-an/710757/45 "2015-01-25T01:02:26Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Not so sure of this. I think Brooks’s is right and Brooks’ is officially wrong (cite?) but commonly spoken that way because Brooks’s sounds awkward. > > I’m even less sure if that’s right. I don’t see that much difference between Brooks’ (which you say is okay) versus Jesus’ (which you say is clearly wrong). I don’t think everybody necessarily pronounces it like Jesus’s (Jesuses?) > > Anyway, if I wanted to write the plural of Jesus, I would probably get all cutesy and write Jesi. > > And I suppose that our two (or more?) **terentii** would each, individually, be a **terentius** , right? I’m a certified teacher of English as a foreign language. I also work as an editor of scientific journals, cleaning up their English. Take my word for it, both of my complaints are legitimate. Terentii, BTW, is the old Russian form of Terence (I have an MA in Russian from Middlebury as well). ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-a-vs-an/710757/46 "2015-01-25T01:02:48Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > If you listen to recordings of natural, connected speech, you won’t find 50% of people pronouncing the indefinite article as /ai/. [Sorry, I meant to write /ei/, as in the way we pronounce the name of the letter “A.”] As an easy example to find online right now, you can listen to the first “paragraph” of the State of the Union address last Tuesday. [QUOTE=Obama] We are 15 years into this new century. Fifteen years that dawned with terror touching our shores; that unfolded with **a** new generation fighting two long and costly wars; that saw **a** vicious recession spread across our nation and the world. It has been, and still is, **a** hard time for many. [/quote] Obama used the indefinite article three times, and each time he pronounced it as /ə/. I think he does pronounce it /ei/ occasionally in speeches (as many public speakers do), but when he’s being interviewed, he uses normal speech, and always pronounces it as /ə/. I don’t think British pronunciation is much different. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-a-vs-an/710757/47 "2015-01-25T01:10:29Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > If you listen to recordings of natural, connected speech, you won’t find 50% of people pronouncing the indefinite article as /ai/. I know there’s an unconscious “rule” for this that we all use naturally, based on certain combinations of vowels, consonants, stress, elision, and so forth, but I can’t remember what it is right offhand. It’s the same reason why we normally say “The End” (long “E”) instead of “Thuh End” (short “E”). I had a drama teacher in high school who habitually said “Thuh End,” and it grated on my ears each time I heard it! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-a-vs-an/710757/48 "2015-01-25T02:13:42Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > In _Notes From A Small Island_, Bill Bryson claimed _normalcy_ was coined in Britain. He didn’t provide any sources, though. Well, everybody else says it originated in the 1857 edition of C. Davies & W. G. Peck’s _Mathematical Dictionary_, meaning a “mathematical condition of being at right angles.” They were American. The next entry in the OED is American as well. > [@](#): > > 1893 Nation 30 July 47/1 Believers‥in the mathematical normalcy of the female mind. Everybody here always talks about how awful Bryson is at things like facts. Apparently they’re correct. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-a-vs-an/710757/49 "2015-01-25T02:17:43Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > If you know the difference, you should never confuse the two, but I hear things like “He’s an historian” all the time on TV from people who ought to know better. I can’t think of specific examples right offhand, but I’m referring to newscasters, politicians, History Channel presenters, and the like (and yes, they pronounce the “H”). Just like I’ve heard some TV evangelists say “Jesus disciples” instead of “Jesus’s disciples.” OK, but that still doesn’t contradict the straightforward rule of using “a” or “an” depending on whether the following sound is a consonant or a vowel. If you say “historian” with an “/h/”, it’s “a historian.” If you don’t aspirate that “h” it’s “an historian” as in “an 'istorian.” The rule/guideline doesn’t change. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-a-vs-an/710757/50 "2015-01-25T02:35:25Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I know there’s an unconscious “rule” for this that we all use naturally, based on certain combinations of vowels, consonants, stress, elision, and so forth, but I can’t remember what it is right offhand. It’s the same reason why we normally say “The End” (long “E”) instead of “Thuh End” (short “E”). I had a drama teacher in high school who habitually said “Thuh End,” and it grated on my ears each time I heard it! :smack: Well, the definite article (_the_) has no alternative form, the way we have two forms of the indefinite article (_a_/_an_). So there is never a call for adjacent articulation of _a_ (/ə/) with any vowel at all, let alone a word beginning with that sound. For example, we never have to say /ə ə’fekt/ (_a effect_) because we have a pretty strict phonological rule, whereby we say [æn ə’fekt] (_an effect_). In rapid, everyday speech (as opposed to a pronouncement when a dramatic presentation is over), on the other hand, I’m pretty sure the adjacent vowels in “the end” can effective assimilate into one segment, resulting in /ðənd/, without grating on one’s ears. In other words, I think it has more to do with register and emphasis, than a strict, phonological rule. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-a-vs-an/710757/51 "2015-01-25T06:21:26Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > I pulled the book up on Google Books. There were no hits for “normality” or “normalty” but several references to “normalcy.” > > […] Sorry; I should have given you the page number in Russell’s book–p. 382.:o I have two other sources for this: Samuel Hopkins Adams, _The Incredible Era_ (Boston, 1939), p. 163. Andrew Sinclair, _The Available Man: The Life Behind the Masks of Warren Gamaliel Harding_ (New York, 1965), p. 162. I know how reporters like to embellish the speeches and writings of public figures. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-a-vs-an/710757/52 "2015-01-25T14:17:21Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I know there’s an unconscious “rule” for this that we all use naturally, based on certain combinations of vowels, consonants, stress, elision, and so forth, but I can’t remember what it is right offhand. It’s the same reason why we normally say “The End” (long “E”) instead of “Thuh End” (short “E”). I had a drama teacher in high school who habitually said “Thuh End,” and it grated on my ears each time I heard it! :smack: The classic prescriptive rule we were taught in school was it’s a schwa before consonant sounds and a “long e” /i:/ before vowel sounds. Hence, “thee end,” but “thuh beginning.” Also, “the” gets pronounced as “thee” when it’s being used emphatically, as in “Tom Cruise, as in _the_ Tom Cruise?” I also recall hearing that when it’s used in spontaneous speech as a hesitation, it also tends to get pronounced as “thee.” So, something like, “Bob picked up the… uh, whaddaya call that thing…the, you know, that thingamabob.” Those "the"s would tend to be pronounced with the “long e” sound. There may be other observations and rules on the pronunciation of “the,” but those are the main ones I’m aware of. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-a-vs-an/710757/53 "2015-01-25T15:53:33Z")
> [@robby](#): > > The usage that drives me batty is the recent trend for otherwise educated people in the U.S. (including politicians and newscasters) to say “an historic…” > > If you’re pronouncing the “h” sound (which these people are), it should properly be “a historic…” Not necessarily. It depends on the level of accent placed on the “h.” [From here](http://grammartips.homestead.com/historical.html) > [@](#): > > The problem is that the h is a bit of a wuss as a consonant. When it occurs in an unaccented syllable and is followed by a vowel, it tends to soften to a vowel-like mushiness. > > Say these words out loud: hot, hear, how, hurt, hateful, holiday. > > Although the h in each of these words is followed by a vowel, the syllable the h + vowel combination occurs in is fully accented, and the h is aspirated (completely pronounced, in all its consonantal glory). All of these words would, of course, be preceded by a, not an. > > But now say these words out loud: historian, historical, hysterical, heredity, habitual. > > Do you notice how much less, well, pronounced the h is in these words? Now, put a or an before each one (the adjectives should be paired with nouns so you can get the full effect): > > a historian > an historian > a historical reference > an historical reference > a historic occasion > an historic occasion > a hysterical display > an hysterical display > a hereditary disease > an hereditary disease > a habitual liar > an habitual liar > > Notice that when you use a before the words, you fully aspirate the h, but when you use an, you do not–and the h sound very nearly disappears into the following vowel. The article goes on to say > [@](#): > > When the unaccented syllable beginning with an h occurs in a bisyllabic (two-syllable) word, something a bit different occurs. Say an historical novel. Now say an hotel. Doesn’t an hotel sound wrong, even though the h in hotel heads up an unaccented syllable? > > There’s a good reason for this. > > The strongest accent in a word is called a primary accent, but words of more than one syllable do not usually consist of a single accented syllable plus one or more completely unaccented syllables. One or more of the word’s other syllables will also receive some stress, though of a lesser sort. > > In the word historical, the first syllable is actually slightly stressed, though far less so than the second syllable, which carries the primary stress. But in the word hotel, the first syllable, though less stressed than the second, is significantly more stressed than the first syllable in historical. > > In historical, the first syllable receives only tertiary (third-level) stress, whereas in hotel, the first syllable receives a secondary stress so strong that it is nearly equal to the primary stress on the second syllable. For this reason, the h in a hotel is pronounced almost as fully as the h in a hot day. > > So here’s the general rule. > > If you speak and write British English, you can probably keep using an before historical, hysterical, habitual, etc. I doubt that you will be challenged by your own countrymen, and if Americans challenge you, just point out that British usage and American usage often differ. > > If you are American, you probably should use a rather than an, even in a historic occasion or a historical reference. Most of us are comfortable with a historic occasion, because the word historic has fewer syllables than historical, so the h is more fully pronounced. But if, like me, you are old enough to find a historical reference a tad uncomfortable, then go ahead and say an historical reference. Like this author, I’m old enough to say an historical reference, especially when speaking at full speed. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-a-vs-an/710757/54 "2015-01-25T16:46:59Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > Sorry; I should have given you the page number in Russell’s book–p. 382.:o > > I have two other sources for this: > Samuel Hopkins Adams, _The Incredible Era_ (Boston, 1939), p. 163. > Andrew Sinclair, _The Available Man: The Life Behind the Masks of Warren Gamaliel Harding_ (New York, 1965), p. 162. > I know how reporters like to embellish the speeches and writings of public figures. :rolleyes: If the original source is Adams that might be an explanation, since his book is reputed to be a hit piece on Harding and is accused of relying on dubious sources. I haven’t read it though. Reporters certainly embellished politicians then, but to be fair, every quote by anybody was polished before it went into print. They even made athletes sound like elementary school graduates, though I’m sure that took a lot of work. If reporters had changed the quote there should be lots of evidence for it, especially in histories of newspapers. This should be a huge topic for everybody to signal out as a way reporters affected history. Yet there’s not a word I can find on it. I think it’s a phony claim, made to discredit Harding. I’m more than willing to be proved wrong, but the lack of evidence is glaring. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-a-vs-an/710757/55 "2015-01-25T17:42:43Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > I would always put ‘a’ in front of ‘U’ = yew. A university student. A Ucla student. An Uncle. A Uniform. What if you didn’t know that it was pronounced letter-by-letter as “U-C-L-A” and thought it was pronounced like “Ookla”? > [@Gary\_T](#): > > Quite true. However, if you’re using the longstanding acceptable practice of NOT aspirating the “H” in an unaccented first syllable, then the correct pronunciation is _“an istoric.”_ Unfortunately, that is properly written “an historic” but folks who haven’t been taught the traditional pronunciation (drop the _h_) commit the mistake you (and I) lament. No American politician says “an 'istoric.” They’re just ignorant and pretentious. > [@guizot](#): > > I see. But that’s missing the point. As **terentii** indicates above, we all know how people pronounce “UCLA”–as an initialism–so that’s easy. > > But what if you’re writing about something less known, like the Football Association of Wales (FAW). And let’s say you don’t know how people pronounce it there. It’s possible that everyone in Wales pronounces it as /fa/, so they say, “It’s a FAW team.” But you might assume that it’s an initialism (not an acronym), and write, “It’s an FAW team.” You might do this because you never hear people talking about it–you only read about it, and you have never happened to come across the name “FAW” preceded by the indefinite article in your readings. See, this is exactly why I prefer preserving the use of periods that are pronounced as initialisms rather than as acronyms and to downcase acronyms. U.C.L.A. — it’s clear that this is pronounced as individual letters and not as an acronym. Ucla — it’s clear that this is pronounced as a word and not as individual letters. H.I.V./Aids — There you go. No ambiguity. No all-cap initials should appear without punctuation between them. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-a-vs-an/710757/56 "2015-01-25T18:12:55Z")
Here in the UK (Would anyone say it as Uck?) we have a new political party called the United Kingdom Independence Party (they want us out of the EU). A year or so ago they tried to insist on U.K.I.P. as a set of initials like UCLA or NYC. Common usage dictated otherwise and they are now resigned to being universally known as Ukip. (derogatory collective noun = Ukippers) Eng slang: Kip; sleep, bed - ‘he can kip on her sofa’; ‘she is still in her kip’. Thus suggesting that they are a bit dozy (sleepy, slow witted) ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2015, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-a-vs-an/710757/57 "2015-01-26T03:34:35Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Another thing that grinds my gears is the business of the naked apostrophe! > > If a word is already a regular plural (or sounds like it), you can write the plural possessive with or without the additional “s”: “I love Mel Brooks’s movies” or “I love Mel Brooks’ movies.” Both variants are perfectly acceptable, though the second may be bit easier to pronounce. Well, there’s also another issue in that the proper noun ‘Mel Brooks’ could not require an apostrophe at all because it’s being used as an adjective. IOW the saying “I love Mel Brooks movies” being like saying “I love action movies” or “I love foreign movies”. Mel Brooks has both made enough films and with a very distinct style that using his name as an adjective is possible. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever heard or read the phrase, “I love Monty Python’s movies”, but always just “Monty Python movies”… ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2015, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-a-vs-an/710757/58 "2015-01-26T05:01:14Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > No American politician says “an 'istoric.” They’re just ignorant and pretentious. Addressed in detail in post 53. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2015, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-a-vs-an/710757/59 "2015-01-26T11:19:37Z")
> [@robby](#): > > The usage that drives me batty is the recent trend for otherwise educated people in the U.S. (including politicians and newscasters) to say “an historic…” > > If you’re pronouncing the “h” sound (which these people are), it should properly be “a historic…” > > All I can figure is that someone got it in their head that that the first incorrect usage was preferred, and others have followed, lemming-like (rather like the word “normalcy” instead of “normality”). This is an old usage left over from the days when the h in words like history, hotel, hospital, etc was indeed silent. It’s still not uncommon in the UK for the upper classes to say _an 'otel_, for instance. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2015, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-a-vs-an/710757/60 "2015-01-26T13:05:53Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > Addressed in detail in post 53. This really doesn’t apply to modern American usage. There is no strong H/weak H phenomenon in American accents (or if there is, they’re extremely obscure accents). There’s no good reason for an American pol to say “an historic.” They picked it up somewhere because it sounded fancy or perhaps they read something by someone who really dos pronounce it “an 'istoric.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-a-vs-an/710757.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-a-vs-an/710757.md?page=4)