im sure you all know that in a sentance when you know when to use A or AN depending on the next word's front letter, So how come everyone says " In an hour"
2006-06-22 04:23:12 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
You have slightly mistaken the rule -- the use of "a" vs "an" is NOT based on the LETTER the begins the following word, but on the SOUND.
If the following word begins with a vowel-sound, use "an"; it if begins with a consonantal sound, use "a".
The word "hour" begins with a vowel sound (the 'h' is silent, as are the h's in a number of words that originally come from French) so takes "an".
On the other hand, many words that start with the letter "eu" or "u" are pronounced "yu-". Since this "y-" is a consonantal sound, use "a" before it ("a univerisity", "a European").
Note that dialectal differences also come into play. Some dialects pronounce the h in "humble", others do not. Those who pronounce say "a humble man", those who do not say "an humble man".)
(The one real exception is words like "historic" , where the h is pronounced, but very weakly, because the SECOND syllable of the h-word is accented and the first syllable has hardly any accent. Some English speakers say "an" for such words. But this may also owe a lot to simple habit, because this h was, at one time, NOT pronounced.)
2006-06-22 06:40:14 · answer #1 · answered by bruhaha 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Not only does everyone say, "In an hour," because of the silent "h," but many people say "an" in front of words that begin with an unstressed "h" sound; for example, "This is an historic moment."
I'm not sure why this is, but my guesses are because of the use of a silent "h" to begin words deriving from French or ancient Greek.
2006-06-22 11:40:23 · answer #2 · answered by Louise 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is because of the silent letter. Hour has a silent h and therefore sounds as if it starts with a vowel, so it sounds better with an.
2006-06-22 11:28:41 · answer #3 · answered by Ajaani Sherisu 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Silent H, you treat it like a vowel. Just another quirk of our crazy language. Rule of thumb: if it does not sound right with an a then put an an.
2006-06-22 11:41:54 · answer #4 · answered by Alobar 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because the starting sound in hour is of a vowel, the H is silent.
2006-06-22 11:26:22 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
because "an" is used in front of a word thats starts with a vowel SOUND. It's a united country not 'an" because united starts with a "y" sound.
2006-06-25 22:36:10 · answer #6 · answered by Bob Gnome 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
because the first letter in the word is silent
2006-06-22 11:43:14 · answer #7 · answered by Lanie 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Cuz the h is silent.
2006-06-22 11:26:40 · answer #8 · answered by Miss Mouse 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
flows better.
2006-06-22 11:26:29 · answer #9 · answered by Dave 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋