A, an
A and
an function as the indefinite forms of the grammatical
article in the
English language and can also represent the number one.
An is the older form, now used before words starting with a
vowel sound, regardless of whether the word begins with a vowel
letter. Examples:
a light-water reactor;
an LWR;
a HEPA filter (because HEPA is pronounced as a word rather than as letters);
a hypothesis;
an hour. However, it is still often considered proper to use
an before any noun starting with h, therefore
a hotel and
an hotel are both acceptable, but the latter is falling out of use.
More examples: "a boy, a European, a j, a picture, a store, a table, a bottle, a window, a phone, a hyphen, a one-horse town" and "a united country, a usurper, a eulogy, a ewe, a U-boat" and "an entry, an f, an hour, an orange, an ape, an odor, an idea, an eagle, an honor, an umbrella, an unbeliever" and "a hotel, a house, a hill, a hymn, a honeycomb". [
1]
"Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage is more descriptive than prescriptive, but it advises:
You choose the article that suits your own pronunciation. Theodore Bernstein gives the straight vowel-sound-vs.-consonant-sound explanation but allows that you should indeed say "an hotel" if you think
hotel is pronounced
otel." [
2]
In a process called
junctural metanalysis, the N has wandered back and forth between words beginning with vowels over the history of the language, where sometimes it would be
a nuncle and is now
an uncle. The
Oxford English Dictionary gives such examples as
smot hym on the hede with a nege tool from 1448 for
smote him on the head with an edge tool and
a nox for
an ox and
a napple for
an apple. Sometimes the change has been permanent. For example,
a newt was once
an ewt (earlier
euft and
eft),
a nickname was once
an eke-name, where
eke means "extra" (as in
eke out meaning "add to"), and in the other direction, "a napron" became "an apron" and "a naddre" became "an adder." "Napron" itself meant "little tablecloth" and is related to the words "napkin" (Am. Eng.) and "nappy" (Br. Eng.). An oft-cited but inaccurate example is
an orange: despite what is often claimed, English never used
a norange. Although the initial
n was in fact lost through junctural metanalysis, this happened before the word was borrowed in English (see
orange (word)).
The form "an" is always prescribed before words beginning with a silent "h", such as "honorable", "heir", "hour", and, in American English, "herb". Some British dialects (for example, Cockney) silence all initial "h's" and so employ "an" all the time: e.g., "an 'elmet". Many British usage books, therefore, discount a usage which some Americans (amongst others) employ as being a derivative of the Cockney. The reason is that the indefinite article "a" is pronounced either of two ways: as a
schwa or as the letter itself is pronounced, "long a" (actually a diphthong, ). Some words beginning with the letter "h" have the primary stress on the second or later syllable. Pronouncing "a" as a schwa can diminish the sound of the schwa and melt into the vowel. Pronouncing it as a "long a" does not do this, but as the pronunciation cannot be prescribed, the word is spelled the same for either. Hence "an" may be seen in such phrases as "an historic", "an heroic", and "an hôtel of excellence" was the by-line in an advertisement in a New York City newspaper.
Such was also the case for some other words which take the place of the article. "My" and "thy" became "mine" and "thine", as in "mine uncle". This usage is now obsolete.
The appearance of "an" or "a" in front of words beginning with "h" is not limited to stress. Sometimes there are historical roots as well. Words that may have had a route into English via French (where all "h"s are unpronounced) may have "an" to avoid an unusual pronunciation. Words that derived from German however would use "a" as the "h"s would be pronounced. There is even some suggestion that fashion may have had some influence. When England was ruled by a French aristocracy, the tradition may have been to exclusively use "an", while when Britain was governed by a German-based monarchy the tide may have changed to "a".
In addition to serving as an article,
a and
an are also used as synonyms for the number one, as in "make a wish", "a hundred".
An was originally an unstressed form of the number
án 'one'.
A and
an are also used to express a proportional relationship, such as "a dollar a day" or "$150 an ounce" or "A Mars a day helps you work, rest and play", although historically this use of "a" and "an" does not come from the same word as the articles.
The mathematically-minded might heed H. S. Wall's reminder that the statement
"I have a son" does not necessarily imply that
"I have exactly one son" or that
"I have only sons". In other words, "The
little words count." — H. S. Wall,
Creative Mathematics.
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