Find a Hotel or Hotels in hampshire based in aldershot, andover, basingstoke, brockenhurst,
eastleigh, fareham, farnborough, lyndhurst, portsmouth,romsey, southampton and winchester. |
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Hotel
Grammar
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Which is correct: 'a hotel' or 'an hotel', 'a historian' or 'an historian'? And
why is it 'a European' not 'an European'?
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The form an for the indefinite article is used before a spoken vowel
sound, regardless of how the written word is spelt. If you say 'an otel'
when speaking (which is now often regarded as distinctly old-fashioned), then it
may be appropriate for you to write 'an hotel'; but most people say 'hotel' with
a sounded 'h', and should write 'a hotel'.
By contrast, words such as 'honour', 'heir' or 'hour' in which the 'h' sound is
dropped are written with 'an'. Americans who drop the 'h' in 'herb' may also prefer
to write 'an herb', but in standard British pronunciation the 'h' is sounded, and
'a herb' is therefore correct in writing. Because 'European' is said with an initial
'y' sound, which counts as a consonantal sound in English speech, it is said (and
written) with 'a' not 'an'. An abbreviation such as M.P., which is pronounced em
pea, begins with a spoken vowel, and so it is 'an M.P.'
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