A vs. An

I was taught growing up that you use “a” when the word starts with a consonant, and you use “an” when the word starts with a vowel. This is close to being right, but not really.

I heard a few years ago that you’re also supposed to use “an” for any word starting with the letter “h,” but that’s even more wrong! I was originally confused because I had realized that "an honor" sounds correct, but "an hairy ape" does not, and I'd keep hearing or seeing things like "an heroic..." but I think it was then that I realized not a whole lot of people know when to use "a" and when to use "an."

After I did some research, I’m pretty sure I bonked myself in the head and said, “duh!” It seems rather obvious, but I guess it wasn’t for me. The actual rule is that you use “a” when the next word starts with a consonant sound and you use “an” when the next word starts with a vowel sound. It doesn’t matter what actual letter the word starts with - just the sound matters. So there you go.

But of course, this is the English language, and what would the English language be if it didn’t try to confuse you?

Some words can sound like they start with a vowel sound or a consonant sound, depending on a few things. For example, when I say “a historic event,” I pronounce that “h” because it sounds right and the statement sounds grammatically correct. But if I say “an historic event,” it also sounds right, because I say “historic” really as “istoric” without the “h.” The real test on whether to use “a” or “an” on words like that is to say the word by itself, then use “a” or “an” appropriately for that pronunciation. So the right way to say it would be “a historic event," unless of course you’re one of the few people who always pronounce it as “istoric,” then go ahead and say “an.”

Quick version: use "a" to precede words that start with a consonant sound, use "an" to precede words that start with a vowel sound.

References:
Online Writing Lab
Grammar Girl

Grammar Girl and OWL are my two main go-to websites for anything related to the English language. I have a decent history with the a vs. an situation, and I’m embarrassed to say that it has taken me this long to actually figure it out, lol.

I'm Kyle?

A quick summary of my life: I was born & raised in Minnesota, been here my entire life, I did insanely well in high school, went to the U of Minnesota but hated it (the school part anyway), dropped out after 3 years, got a job that I've now been at for almost 3 years, and I've been going back to school slowly but surely at a nearby community college for a few years now.

I like to believe I have a pretty firm grasp of the English language. I got A's in around 98.7% of my English classes, and I've always been told that I am a good writer. Not that I could write as a living or anything - I just know how to not make mistakes (usually). I never "liked" English classes, but I never "liked" much of anything we were forced to do in school really. Except lunch and gym class, of course.

I've played my fair share of online video games, so I've been exposed to some of the worst grammar and spelling in the world. It amazes me sometimes how some people just plain suck at using the English language. I know that internet-English isn't the same as English-English (what with the acronyms, half-sentences, and extreme lack of punctuation), but it's statements like "I could care less" that always make me want to reply, "How much less could you care? Maybe you could care less to the point where, say, I don't know, you couldn't care less, which is what you meant to say in the first place?" That's usually when they reply with, "Huh? Oh, uh, I don't care." And then I reply with, "Exactly."

That's all. Hi, nice to be here. :-)