English: A vs. An
Points and comments are a snapshot, not live.
The rule for 'a' vs 'an' depends on spoken vowel sounds, not written letters.
Red Blob Games explores the English 'a' vs 'an' rule for procedural text generation. The rule depends on whether the spoken word starts with a vowel sound, not a vowel letter. For example, 'unicorn' starts with a consonant sound ('y'), so it gets 'a', while 'hour' starts with a vowel sound, so it gets 'an'. The author analyzed 32,455 words from cmudict and found only 129 exceptions. Visualizations show that the first two letters are not enough to determine the article.
What commenters are saying
Commenters debated 'an historic,' noting it depends on whether the 'h' is pronounced. British and American usage differ, with 'a historic' now standard in modern English. One commenter highlighted that 'an' before a pronounced 'h' (e.g., 'an hotel') is an upper-class British affectation that is fading. Non-native speakers struggle more with 'a vs. the' than 'a vs. an'; advice includes thinking of 'a' as 'any.' Another noted that dropping or keeping the 'h' in 'herb' and 'H' varies by dialect and can serve as a shibboleth.