# Which is correct? "A" or "An" in this sentence... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 27, 2007, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-correct-a-or-an-in-this-sentence/420677 "2007-09-27T12:45:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2007, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-correct-a-or-an-in-this-sentence/420677/21 "2007-09-28T09:54:15Z")
[QUOTE=mhendo] Huh? So, if you’re talking, you say “I will wait for an hour,” but if you’re writing about someone, you write “He waited for a hour”? That’s something i’ve never heard of in my life. [/QUOTE] Sorry, let me clarify. If you would usually pronounce the “h” - e.g. hotel - you should write “a hotel”. However, if you are trying to render a particular accent where the “h” is often dropped, you’d write “an 'otel” to indicate the non-aspirated “h”. Standard english would not include saying “I went to a lovely 'otel”. I think the point **SharkB8** made re. the way you pronounce “a” is important - maybe this is a transatlantic thing? I guess with grammar there’s never a GQ answer. I’ve had several years experience wtih academic publishing, and (as **Colophon** indicated) the overwhelming majority of editors I have known would go with “a hotel”, “a historic” or “a heraldic”. Using “an hotel” or “an historic” etc in the UK is (IMO) a shorthand way of marking yourself out as 1. older (1950s) generation 2. conservative and middle-england (think [Hyacinth Bucket](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyacinth_Bucket)) YMMV, obviously, but the use of “an heraldic” would make me assume either sloppy editing, or pretentious authoriship. However, I am happy to concede that a minority do not share this view. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-correct-a-or-an-in-this-sentence/420677.md?page=1)