As the wife and grammar mistress of @pupito, and a professional editor, I'd like to chime in to respectfully point us all toward the Chicago Manual of Style, which holds forth thusly, in Chapter 7, section 32:
"The indefinite article a, not an, is used in English before words beginning with a pronounced h.
a hotel a historical study
but
an honor an heir"
So if the H sound is pronounced, it is preceded by "a," and if the H is silent (as it is, ironically, when pronouncing the letter H) it is preceded by "an."
It is usually incorrect to assume that we should disregard grammar rules because they can't keep up with language. The Chicago Manual of Style, for example, gets a complete and careful update on a regular basis, and is now in its brand-new 17th edition.
Comments 2
Re: Hardware Review: The Retro-Bit RES Plus Gives You A HDMI NES For Under 40 Dollars
As the wife and grammar mistress of @pupito, and a professional editor, I'd like to chime in to respectfully point us all toward the Chicago Manual of Style, which holds forth thusly, in Chapter 7, section 32:
"The indefinite article a, not an, is used in English before words beginning with a pronounced h.
a hotel
a historical study
but
an honor
an heir"
So if the H sound is pronounced, it is preceded by "a," and if the H is silent (as it is, ironically, when pronouncing the letter H) it is preceded by "an."
It is usually incorrect to assume that we should disregard grammar rules because they can't keep up with language. The Chicago Manual of Style, for example, gets a complete and careful update on a regular basis, and is now in its brand-new 17th edition.
Re: Review: The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (DS)
Great review; I can't wait to play it after going to the midnight launch at the Nintendo World Store on Monday.