I haven’t had a copyediting post in a while, so let’s talk about “a” and “an.” We pretty much all know that “a” is to be used before a consonant sound and “an” used before a vowel sound, right? That seems fairly straightforward, but in reality it gets a bit dicey because of the way people actually pronounce words. Many Americans use the combination “an historical” with the thought that it’s actually more correct, because that’s how many folks from the UK say it. However, Brits don’t pronounce the “h” the way that Americans do. For an American, “a historical” is actually the correct usage.
Similarly, many people look down on American dialects that use “a” before words like “apple.” However, in those dialects, the “apple” is actually pronounced with a consonant sound. Hear that glottal stop way down in your throat that starts the “uh” in “uh-oh”? That’s a consonant (regardless of whether English has a letter for it) that starts words like “apple” in some American dialects, and the “a” that those speakers use in front of the word is completely natural, if not grammatical.
So if you’re speaking American and are using “an historical” as a matter of course, you’re actually doing a bit of societal hypercorrection. And copyeditors need to realize that “a apple” might actually most closely resemble a character’s native speech.
6 Responses to ““A” and “An” with Consonants”
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I'm a freelance copyeditor specializing in fantasy and science fiction. SF/F novels I have copyedited have been finalists for (and have sometimes won) the Hugo, Nebula, Arthur C. Clarke, Endeavour, Golden Spur, John W. Campbell Memorial, Quill, Locus, Philip K. Dick, British Science Fiction, British Fantasy, and World Fantasy awards. In 2007 I became the first and only copyeditor ever short-listed for a World Fantasy Award.
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I think your template may be corrupted. The RSS feed (which I subscribe to as your writing is facinating) is filled with a list if drugs rather than insightful comment on copy editing.
Agh! Thank you, Benedict. I will see if I can get that fixed.
When I was in school (in England) we were taught to use “an historical” because it was a hard and fast grammatical rule that you should always use “an” if the following word began with “h”. In those days grammar was solely a matter of Rules Which Must Be Obeyed. There was no questioning the origin of the rule, or whether it was always appropriate. For all I know English may still be taught that way.
English is largely still taught that way, though the rules sometimes differ in the States. Did the dialect pronounce the “h”?
I use “an historical” because I don’t pronounce the “h” (similarly with “an herb,” which, according to Eddie Izzard, is pronounced with the “h” in England).
As for “a apple” and the glottal-stop theory…
AAAAAUUUUUGGGHHHH!
I hate hate hate hate with the passion of a thousand burning suns the stupid glottal-stop that has invaded the parlance of Generation X and younger. My snobbery circuits just go on full ***RED ALERT WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP*** whenever I hear, for instance, someone pronounce the word “button” as “buh-un.”
I would rather hear an honest blue-collar “buddon” than that poser-middle-class idiot glottal stop. Learn to freaking enunciate, people. “But-nnn” or “buh-ton” are acceptable. There are two Ts–how are people completely ignoring them?
Heh. I use “an” with “herb” also. I hadn’t ever heard that it’s pronounced with an “h” in England!
I’m pretty sure I use that glottal stop in “button” too. Now I keep saying the word to myself, trying to figure out how I actually pronounce it, which never really works. :)