Herb, which is pronounced two ways, takes the appropriate article depending on the writer's habits: an (h)erb, but a herb.
I find myself typing "an" before some h-words like "hotel" 'cause that's what the teacher told us many moons ago. Damned if I can figure out the logic.
Google: when do you use "an" before h
-Derek
"I'm an historian."
I was a horrible mother. This was once taped to the mirror in our kids' bathroom, during their high school years. They learned a lot of stuff from that mirror.
Naturally there's a rule, although it's seldom taught in the US. (And like a lot of so-called rules, this one is slowly changing, becoming less enforced in business and academia, ordinarily the final bastions of grammar rules.)
Native American-English speakers rarely use an before an H-word in casual conversation, and I expect the practice will be considered a quaint eccentricity before I'm dead. It’s already limited in spoken English in the US to those whose speaking style could be considered elevated or even pompous.
The rule is that for an H-word to be preceeded by an, it must have all of the following:
--a pronounced H (ruling out words like hour, heir, honest, honorable, honorific, herb, herbalist);
--three or more syllables;
--a primary accent on the second syllable ( heroic, historic, historical, horrific, hysterical, etc., but not heroism, highlander, hillbilly, horrible, hospital, humanitarian, or hysterectomy);
--the role of a noun or an adjective immediately before a noun, so an article (a, an or the) can naturally precede it (which excludes however);
--the ability to accept the indeterminate article (the one that isn’t the) because it means a specific one, which leaves out humanity); and
--a formal or academic context, usually. Most US newspapers' and magazines' style standards have long-since dropped an H-word usage.
~~No, not always. I find it a bit jarring, but both are used. Also, in compounds, it's 'Herbicide', no options listed.People pronounce it h(hard H)erb? I thought that was a proper name, Herbie the Love Bug. The spice, I thought, was always, (h)erb.
--Chicago Manual of StyleSuch forms as "an historical study" or "an union" are not idiomatic in American English. Before a pronounced h, long u (or eu), and such a word as one, the indefinite article should be a
Sounds like you need to get out more, James, particularly among young educated people. In my experience, the Ph.D.s and lawyers around my age are slightly more likely to use "an H" than their contemporaries who don't have advanced degrees, but they certainly don't all use it.Guess we know different people. I don't really know anyone who doesn't use the rule properly in casual conversation.
--A Progressive Grammar of the English Tongue, William Swinton, 1874.A is used before words beginning with a consonant sound; as, a man, a house, a wonder, a year, a use, a unit, a European. An is used before words beginning with a vowel sound; as, an art, an end, an heir, an hour, an urn.
The learner must particularly note that the use of a or an depends, not on whether the initial letter of the succeeding word is a vowel or a consonant, but a vowel sound or a consonant sound.... Words beginning with the sounded h take a; as, a history; those beginning with h silent take an; as, an honor. The people of England 'drop their h's,' in many instances, where we sound them, and hence use an where we use a: thus they say an historian. American usage sounds the h, and consequently joins a; thus, a historian.
I'm pretty sure my teacher was never in the U.S. in her life.In the U.S., at least, your teacher was wrong.
OK, I'm confused.
Maryn, did you write the thing you put on your kids' mirror? Or did you find it and think it was right? An goes before everything it says an an doesn't go before. Hour, heir, etc. I have never heard of any of the remaining rules. It must be a piece of fiction.