[Sussex] Grammar (was Gnupg and it's use)

[Mark Harrison (Groups)]

On Fri, 2005-11-25 at 13:56 +0000, Desmond Armstrong wrote:
> 'a' is an a except when the following word starts with a vowel then
> it 
> is 'an'.

Well, that covers only one of the four cases in which "an" should be
used!

The best statement of the rule I've come across is in The Economist
Style Guide" (ISBN 1-86197-916-9). While I've never actually written an
article for the Economist, I do regularly write articles for other
publications, and find that the Economist Style Guide is about the best
of the bunch.

To paraphrase the rule as it appears there:

- "A" is "A" except when the following word starts with one of the
following, in which case it becomes "An".

-- a vowel 
-- a silent "h"
-- a specifically enunciated letter which starts with a vowel sound
-- in formal text only, the word "historical", in which case, and only
in which case, the "h" of the word "historical becomes silent"


Examples of the four cases:

- an elephant (elephant starts with a vowel)
- an honorary degree (honorary starts with a silent "h")
- an MP (the letter M is pronounced "Em")
- an historical moment (this is a very "RP" way of speaking, and
colloquial usage would normally be "a historical moment" with an
aspirated "h".)


Regards,

Mark