If the word begins with a consonant sound you would use a, such as 'a dog' and 'a balloon,' as well as 'a one' and 'a unicorn.' If the word begins with a vowel sound, use an, such as in 'an honorable man,' and with spoken acronyms like 'an FBI agent.' Words like historic, with a pronounced 'H,' can use either a or an.

It’s hard to tell whether you should use a or an before “h” words. The rule dictates that if the first syllable is not stressed, you can use an. Additionally, some words have the “h” sound at the beginning, while it is silent in other words. Advertisement.

When the h begins a word and the first syllable is strongly pronounced, you should use a. a history of Europe (accent falls on his ) a hero (accent falls on he ) But when the beginning h is weakly pronounced ( historic, habitual ), you may use an , especially in British English.

Normally, we pronounce consonant letters with a consonant sound, and vowel letters with a vowel sound. But there are some exceptions. The rule about a or an is still the same. You just need to think about the SOUND, not the WRITING. Look at these examples: vowel LETTER but consonant SOUND. a Eu ropean country.

Use "an" before a word or an abbreviation that starts with a vowel sound. If it does not start with a vowel sound, use "a." The key word here is sound. It is not a question of whether the word or abbreviation starts with a vowel. It is a question of whether it starts with a vowel sound. Look at these examples with abbreviations: A FROG missile

Use ANbefore words such as "hour" which sound like they start with a vowel even if the first letter is a consonant. Also use ANbefore letters and numbers which sound like they begin with a vowel, such as "F" or "8". Remember, it is the sound not the spelling which is important.

An is the form of the indefinite article that is used before a spoken vowel sound: it doesn’t matter how the written word in question is actually spelled. So, we say ‘ an honour ’, ‘ an hour’, or ‘ an heir’, for example, because the initial letter ‘h’ in all three words is not actually pronounced.

09/04/2020 · If you aspirated “h” in hotel, it was “a hotel,” because we use “a” before consonant sounds. If you dropped the “h” and said “otel , ” you used “ an ,” since in that case ...

11/09/2014 · Using “an” before an aspirated H, was only recommended if the first syllable in the word was not accented. “Make a house a home” was correct by all standards. But the first syllable in historic, hotel, and hysterical is not emphasized.