Is that an honourable decision or an honest mistake?I tot the usage of 'an' will base on A, E, I, O, U of the following word!
'an' HDB flat or 'a' HDB flat.
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Then it would be:I tot the usage of 'an' will base on A, E, I, O, U of the following word!
a HDB flat
an URA spokesman.
Second one sounds wrong.
../azul123
counter from the first one child who said, an HDB is right.
"So, you would say, an Urban Redevelopment Authority spokesman = an URA spokesman?" doesn't sound right, should be a URA spokesman.
Me? I think:
a Housing Development Board flat = a HDB flat.
As for the URA piece it would be.. an Urban Redevelopment Authority spokesman = this time 'a' URA spokesman.
../azul123
i think you are correct. whether if you use the acronym HDB its "a HDB" cos we pronounce the "H" with a "hedge" sound. as for URA its "a URA" cos the "U" has a "you" sound. darn the english language :bsmilie:
I tot the usage of 'an' will base on A, E, I, O, U of the following word!
Yes. But certain words are an exception to this rule...
I tot the usage of 'an' will base on A, E, I, O, U of the following word!
no.. its all about the sound of the 1st syllable.
eg...
an umbrella - "u" sound
a unicorn - "y" sound
you can try this... http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/esl/esliart.html
it's pretty close to what I remember being taught in school...
it's pretty close to what I remember being taught in school...
the a-an rule is due to pronunciation and not grammar or orthography (spelling)... so "HDB" would be "an HDB", "honourable" would be "an honourable"... the realisations here are not so much an exception to the rule (viewed from the point of spelling) but that they do not follow the guide of spelling but deals with pronunciation...
to illustrate this further, if a dialect pronounces house as " 'ouse " (the "h" is elided or not produced, as is the case in some dialects in Britain), then the rule would favour the form "an 'ouse"...
but now, back to sociolinguistic research...
to illustrate this further, if a dialect pronounces house as " 'ouse " (the "h" is elided or not produced, as is the case in some dialects in Britain), then the rule would favour the form "an 'ouse"...
but now, back to sociolinguistic research...
theBRK, you da man :bsmilie: was wondering when you would come in here to contribute your knowledge.
the a-an rule is due to pronunciation and not grammar or orthography (spelling)... so "HDB" would be "an HDB", "honourable" would be "an honourable"... the realisations here are not so much an exception to the rule (viewed from the point of spelling) but that they do not follow the guide of spelling but deals with pronunciation...
to illustrate this further, if a dialect pronounces house as " 'ouse " (the "h" is elided or not produced, as is the case in some dialects in Britain), then the rule would favour the form "an 'ouse"...
but now, back to sociolinguistic research...
:think: i prefer the British pronunciation, so it will be ''a HDB flat'' for me instead of ''an HDB flat'' for me, the latter just does not sound right.
and for you, it is correct as well (although I would not really call that British pronunciation becourse Britain is a very diverse speaker community... maybe more BBC or what some would call Received Pronunciation (RP)... like I mentioned, some people in Britain would pronounce "house" as " 'ouse"... just watch Premiership coverage...
)... its not a hard and fast rule... like Captain Barbossa said, its "more what you'd call 'guidelines' than actual rules"... and if any school teacher says otherwise you can tell them to go shiver their timbers... the a-an rule is due to pronunciation and not grammar or orthography (spelling)... so "HDB" would be "an HDB", "honourable" would be "an honourable"... the realisations here are not so much an exception to the rule (viewed from the point of spelling) but that they do not follow the guide of spelling but deals with pronunciation...
to illustrate this further, if a dialect pronounces house as " 'ouse " (the "h" is elided or not produced, as is the case in some dialects in Britain), then the rule would favour the form "an 'ouse"...
but now, back to sociolinguistic research...
and for you, it is correct as well (although I would not really call that British pronunciation becourse Britain is a very diverse speaker community... maybe more BBC or what some would call Received Pronunciation (RP)... like I mentioned, some people in Britain would pronounce "house" as " 'ouse"... just watch Premiership coverage...
that was exactly my point. didn't it occur to you those people who pronounce 'ouse' did so because they were being though that way? those who were though H(eitch) should use 'an' and those who were taught H(haitch) will use 'a'. If you were to notice a lot of confusion these days because of our british education root mixed with US influence has created a whole new dialect with people saying a H(eitch)-D-B flat or an H(heitch)_D_B. This dialect took up a name of its own I believe now called "Singlish" which have total disregard for any basics of english.
Although just "guidelines than actual rules" you can see the impact on working adults when it comes to the negotiating tables and report writing. Although not much of an a-an problem but the basics of English is totally lost and very often many man-hours are wasted on trying to convey a simple point across.
More so when it comes to parenting, the parents tries to give the kid a good start in english by speaking to them in English, but their English is intertwined with excerpts from all 4 major languages in Singapore. The poor child ends up speaking Singlish eloquently and his mom couldn't figure out what went wrong.
Another friend who speaks proper English at home, finds his 3 kids speaking far better English and more outspoken than the former.
FYI, I witnessed this for she is a close friend of mine.
Guidelines or actual rules? Probably one would need to shiver a lot more timbers to find out.
It is [a] if the acronym is pronounced.
not [an]
It is a "sound" rule not a grammar rule.
See this.
http://www.english-zone.com/grammar/a-anlessn.html
not [an]
It is a "sound" rule not a grammar rule.
See this.
http://www.english-zone.com/grammar/a-anlessn.html
if people who use "a" with "house" and those who use "an" with " 'ouse" learnt it and applied it thus, then good for them, they have correct usage... I think the problem would come if people used "an" with "house" or "a" with " 'ouse"... that would be when the "guidelines" are clearly broken... but the choice to use a certain pronunciation system should certainly be open to the individual as long as they are consistent...
... and I daresay this is a worldwide issue and not a problem faced only by Singapore... and I don't believe Singlish has total disregards to any basics in English... Singlish, as in any dialect of English, has its own rules and thus do not have to follow the rules of other dialects as long as these rules that they adhere to are consistent... there is Singlish and there is broken English: they are not the same, and I think if there are deficiencies in usage as with regards to the current topic in question, it is the latter that is the problem this is an issue of incomplete competence of English, not the influence of Singlish... and in a way, I believe this situation arises because of the extra emphasis on technical (not meaning "engineering" technical but as in "expertise-centric" technical) and scientific education but a limited emphasis on language skills that is present in the education system... honestly, I do not remember much about learning English in school (not to put down the efforts of teachers of English... I guess I just wasn't a particularly attentive student in English class)... I learnt English the good old fashion way, by listening and using it, and what better source of good English language usage than well made television and well written novels if good English language use is not present at home (I come from a family that converses in Hokkien so that runs true for me, although my father does speak good English)... that's where I had picked up my English
shiver on... more funding for academic research
:lovegrin:if people who use "a" with "house" and those who use "an" with " 'ouse" learnt it and applied it thus, then good for them, they have correct usage... I think the problem would come if people used "an" with "house" or "a" with " 'ouse"... that would be when the "guidelines" are clearly broken... but the choice to use a certain pronunciation system should certainly be open to the individual as long as they are consistent...
And you are absolutely correct.
It is all about the spoken form rather than the written vowel - first syllable is a vowel sound, use an "an".
Or you could try saying a "an" - and twist your tongue all around. :bsmilie:
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