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أٹأ‡أ‘أأژ أ‡أ،أٹأ“أŒأأ،: Mar 2009
أ‡أ،أڈأ¦أ،أ‰: Yemen
أ‡أ،أ£أ”أ‡أ‘أںأ‡أٹ: 4,550
أ£أڑأڈأ، أٹأأأأ£ أ‡أ،أ£أ“أٹأ¦أ¬:
864716
[rainbow][gdwl]thank you siso
really it is nice subject
but i wana to add some thing, so pleased me
'A' and 'an' function as the indefinite forms of the grammatical article in the English language and can also represent the number one.
The choice of "a" or "an" is determined by phonetic rules rather than by spelling convention. "An" is employed in speech to remove the awkward glottal stop (momentary silent pause) that is otherwise required between "a" and a following word e.g. "an X-ray" is less awkward to pronounce than "a X-ray" which has a glottal stop between "a" and "X-ray". The following paragraphs are spelling rules for "an" which can be used if the phonetic rule is not understood.
The form "an" is always prescribed before words beginning with a silent h, such as "honorable", "heir", "hour", and, in American English, "herb". Some British dialects (for example, Cockney) silence all initial h's (h-dropping) and so employ "an" all the time: e.g., "an 'elmet". Many British usage books,[citation needed] therefore, discount a usage which some Americans (amongst others) employ as being a derivative of the Cockney.[citation needed] The reason is that the indefinite article a is pronounced either of two ways: as a schwa, or as the letter itself is pronounced, "long a" (actually a diphthong, /eɪ/). Some words beginning with the letter h have the primary stress on the second or later syllable. Pronouncing a as a schwa can diminish the sound of the schwa and melt into the vowel. Pronouncing it as a "long a" does not do this, but as the pronunciation cannot be prescribed, the word is spelled the same for either. Hence an may be seen in such phrases as "an historic", "an heroic", or "an hôtel of excellence", which was the by-line in an advertisement in a New York City newspaper.[citation needed]
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage is more descriptive than prescriptive, but it advises, "You choose the article that suits your own pronunciation." Theodore Bernstein gives the straight vowel-sound vs. consonant-sound explanation but allows that one should indeed say "an hotel" if they think hotel is pronounced otel.[2]
An analogous distinction to that of "a" and "an" was once present for possessive determiners as well. For example, "my" and "thy" became "mine" and "thine" before a vowel, as in "mine eyes". This usage is now obsolete.
The appearance of an or a in front of words beginning with h is not limited to stress. Sometimes there are historical roots as well. Words that may have had a route into English via French (where all h's are unpronounced) may have an to avoid an unusual pronunciation. Words that derived from German however would use a as the h's would be pronounced. There is even some suggestion that fashion may have had some influence. When England was ruled by a French aristocracy, the tradition may have been to exclusively use an, while when Britain was governed by a German-based monarchy the tide may have changed to a.[citation needed]
Further, some words starting with vowels may have a preceding a because they are pronounced as if beginning with an initial consonant. "Ewe" and "user" have a preceding a because they are pronounced with an initial y consonant sound. "One-armed bandit" also has a preceding a because it is pronounced with an initial w consonant sound.
To add emphasis to a noun, the preceding indefinite article is often pronounced as a long a (just as the definite article would be pronounced as "thee" in such cases), whether or not the schwa, or even "an" would be the appropriate usage. In recent years, there has been a noticeable trend to pronouncing almost all indefinite articles in this way, especially in radio or television announcements or news-reading.[/gdwl][/rainbow]
03-15-2009, 04:00 PM
أٹأڑأ،أأ£أ‡أٹ أ‡أ،أ£أ”أ‡أ‘أںأ‰
أ‡أ،أ£أ¦أ‡أ–أأڑ أ‡أ،أ£أٹأ”أ‡أˆأ¥أ¥
أ‡أ،أڑأ‘أ– أ‡أ،أڑأ‡أڈأ
