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I want to brush up my English and I just started to read some Grammar books. When I read the section about how to use an article before a single letter, it says that we have to use "a" or "an" depending on the pronunciation of the letter. My teachers in school have never told me about that and in fact I am not sure what is the correct article that should be placed in front of a single letter.

Here I tried to list all the 26 letters with articles. Please let me know if I am correct or not and be kind to point out my mistakes.

  1. an "A"
  2. a "B"
  3. a "C"
  4. a "D"
  5. an "E"
  6. an "F"
  7. a "G"
  8. a "H"
  9. an "I"
  10. a "J"
  11. a "K"
  12. an "L"
  13. an "M"
  14. an "N"
  15. an ""O"
  16. a "P"
  17. an "R"
  18. a "Q"
  19. an S"
  20. a "T"
  21. a "U"
  22. a "V"
  23. a "W"
  24. an "X"
  25. a "Y"
  26. a "Z".
rjpond
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luimichael
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1 Answers1

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Your list is correct, except that we would normally say and write an H, because the name of the letter H is usually "aitch", and most dictionaries (whether British or American) give that as the only way to pronounce it.

That said, "haitch" is common in Ireland and increasingly common in Britain, so "a H" is defensible as well, although learners would be better advised to stick with the more traditional form.

Note, the rule about "a"/"an" in your grammar book doesn't apply only to the names of the letters of the alphabet, but also to words in general. For example, we would say "a unique book" (because "unique" is pronounced with a leading consonant), "a UN meeting" (because "UN" is pronounced as two initials), but "an MBA" (because "MBA" is also usually pronounced as its initials, and the M starts with a vowel sound).

rjpond
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  • Regarding *haitch*, I just read that BBC article, which you included, and I don't think it is saying that the letter H is increasingly being pronounced *haitch*, but just that some words, at one time pronounced with a silent H, such as *hospital, hotel, herb, etc* are now pronounced with an h sound at the beginning. (Actually the only one of those three where I believe the h sound was ever omitted was *hotel* - and there was much else in the article which I read with scepticism - though I am usually a big fan of the BBC). – WS2 Sep 10 '17 at 00:05
  • You are mistaken, @WS2. The article does indeed say that those words are now pronounced with an 'h' sound at the beginning, but it also says that the letter 'h' is increasingly being called *haitch*. "The sound of *says, ate, mischievous, harass, garage, schedule* and *aitch* is shifting." It also says: "*Haytch* is a standard pronunciation in Irish English and is increasingly being used by native English-speaking people all across the country, irrespective of geographical provenance or social standing. Polls have shown that the uptake of *haytch* by younger native speakers is on the rise." – rjpond Sep 10 '17 at 00:08
  • For "herb", the OED says "the h was mute until the 19th cent., and is still so treated by many". – rjpond Sep 10 '17 at 00:11
  • Sorry, I didn't read the side panels. *Haytch* has been, and still is very common in the north of England too. But I remain quite sceptical of much that is in that report. It doesn't correspond in several respects with what I am hearing. One thing you must bear in mind with journalists, is that they get paid for writing things. A blank sheet of paper earns them nothing. Life is a good deal less remarkable than the media would have us believe. – WS2 Sep 10 '17 at 00:13
  • I don't know why the BBC uses the spelling *haytch* for the 'h'-prefixed pronunciation. I use *haitch* because it differs from the standard pronunciation only by its initial 'h', and the spelling of *aitch* is well established. Oh well. Prof John Wells carried out a survey a decade ago, and only 16% of Brits said they called it *haitch*. However, the proportion was around 5% among older speakers and around 25% among younger respondents. See http://phonetic-blog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/ha-ha.html – rjpond Sep 10 '17 at 00:19
  • @rjpond I always defer to [Eddie Izzard's opinion on the pronunciation of *herbs*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6lJGD3Q9Qs). – Andrew Sep 10 '17 at 00:50