Which is right?
Never heard “I’ll be back an hour” in my entire life. Must be regional.
Did you mean “I’ll be back in an hour”?
D’oh!!
The thread title MEANT to read…
"I’ll be back in an hour. “No, you’ll be back in a hour”
Any mod care to change it for me?
Yeah, but this topic has been covered extensively in this forum in recent weeks, so be prepared to be barraged with links.
I’d be mad myself that you didn’t search, but I have no idea whatsoever what keywords one might use to narrow down a search!
The correct is “an hour” as it starts with a vowel sound, for example:
Incorrect: The judge gave the lawyers a hour’s recess.
Correct: The judge gave the lawyers an hour’s recess.
However, you would use “a” as the article with voiced consonants:
Incorrect: The teacher asked an hypothetical question
Correct: The teacher asked a hypothetical question
We’ve discussed this issue before as it pertains to the word “history.” Some people don’t aspirate the “h” or do so very lightly and say “an historic” (read: “an 'istoric.”)
The rule is that “an” precedes a word that begins with a vowel sound. Spelling is irrelevant to the issue.
Hence, “an hour” is correct.
“a hour” would be correct if you say “a howwer.” I don’t know of any regional variation that does this, so “a hour” is just plain incorrect.
Here’s one of the threads. This one deals with acronyms and the “a” vs “an” usage rule, but it also touches on words beginning with “h.”
I’ll be back in a hour with an uniform.
And I’ll be back in 60 minutes.