Okay, according to my grammar book (p131, "Rediscover Grammar", David
Crystal, Longman 1996):
the use of "a" or "an varies before
a few words beginning with "h",
such as "hotel" and "historical". The
latter form is often felt to be old-fashioned.
so there you go! I think the book assumes that you know that "a"
comes before a consonant and "an" before a vowel.
Pig, sheep and cow are Anglo-Saxon words which the peasants who
looked after them needed to know. Pork, mutton and beef are Norman
words which the nobles who ate them needed to know :o) (I think!)
Helen
At 12:48 15/11/2005, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
I, too, think, an hotel is "correct" grammar. I have very, very vague
memories of the explanation why. I think it comes from the French who do not
pronounce the "h". it's l'hotel isn't it? (Question for our French
members). French
was the language of society in this country for a long time. The French
influence is why we have pork, mutton and beef. The animals changed
their names
from pig, sheep and cow into le porc, le mouton and le boef when they crossed
the threshold of french speaking homes. (My French is very rusty, so please
pardon me if I've got the spellings wrong.) This is all a bit
confused because
my memory is not what it used to be (and that wasn't very good at the best of
times) but I am pretty sure it is the French influence as far as saying "an
hotel" is concerned. I've never had reason to refer to Hispanic anything but
while I think I would say "a Hispanic" "an Hispanic" doesn't sound wrong
either. Take your pick, Tamara.
Patricia in Wales
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Helen, Somerset, UK
"Forget the formulae, let's make lace"
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