calling grammar queens - 'a or an'

[katierocket]

an hostile environment or a hostile environment?
such a simple thing and I can't remember the exact rules. Doh.

an if the next word that follows begins with a vowel. a for everything else.

so a hostile environment

that's what I thought but isn't there some weird thing to do with the letter 'h'? or if it sounds like a vowel because is silent consonant? (or am I making that up!)

dont think so

if the h is silent - eg honour - it's an.

Yes, but with hostile you do pronounce the h, so it is a hostile environment.

If it was an honourary award it would be an, because the h is silent.

Crossed posts Jan!

aha - thank you!

a hostile environment (as you pronounce the h)
an honour (as you don't)
but an hotel (when writing as in theory you shouldn't pronounce the h however when speaking a hotel or you sound a bit snobby saying "an 'otel" unless you really are French and have trouble with "hs" not to meantion your "ths"

oh i forgot about that! sorry....tablets making me groggy!

Really Mrs Fogi? I had never heard that. An hotel just doesn't look right to me at all.

I'm confused by the 'an hotel' rule. Am I being really dim today or what

an hotel??

whilst on th subject of strange english can anyone explain the pronunciation of ratio vs patio?

what about this lot jampot?

trough
tough
though
through

oh crikey...this is too much for my frazzled head!!

it just exagerates how lazy the british are as a nation towards learning foreign languages. A lot of foreigners speak ours and its soooo confusing

i think mrsfogi meant when you're writing it, you should put a hotel, but when you're speaking it, people can be lazy and say it "an hotel" or "an 'otel"

no answers for jampots or mummysurfers though. thats too much for my brain!!

Actually saying "an 'otel" is v. posh (although very old-fashioned). Always written 'a hotel' though.

I didn't mean to start a big discussion on this (and I was wrong so now stand corrected and write "an hotel"!The only reason I thought of it was because I had a big row with my boss about it (he's very interested in grammar!).(not to mention the terrible punctuation preceding this parenthesis).
What I meant to say was -
when writing ... an hotel
when speaking ...a hotel (or an 'otel if you can carry it off)

It sounded to me like Mrs Fogi was saying that you should write "an hotel", but when you are speaking (unless you're French) you should say "a hotel".

Mrs Fogi, where are you? Help!

Im getting all confused so I just checked on Microsoft Word and it says an hotel is wrong, and it should be a hotel.

Just checked on Ask Oxford which says the following:

Which is correct: 'a hotel' or 'an hotel', 'a historian' or 'an historian'? And why is it 'a European' not 'an European'? Printer Friendly Version

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.'

excellent - i was looking for ages for just such an explanation

Please enclose a SAE or
Please enclose an SAE...?
Why does the first one sound like I come from Japan? Which one is wrong? (or wong)!