Posted on 12/29/2024 7:14:16 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Some grammar rules are as straightforward as can be — at first glance, at least. We’re taught in grade school to use “a” before words beginning with consonants and “an” before words that start with vowels. That means you could plant “a herb garden,” right? Then why does “an herb garden” sound slightly better to our American ears? It’s because this simple grade-school grammar rule is more complex than it seems.
The English language has two types of articles: definite and indefinite. They identify whether a noun is specific or generic. “The” is a definite article — the only definite article in English, in fact — and it indicates that we are referring to a particular noun. For example, “John bought the car” refers to one very specific car.
“A” and “an” are indefinite articles, and they can refer to any person, place, or thing. For example, if “Tom will bake a cake,” it could be chocolate, vanilla, or lemon. We don’t know what Tom has planned, based on the language used.
If “the” is the only definite article in English, why are there two indefinite articles? The simple answer is that they’re used in different situations, namely in regard to the letters that follow in the next word. Use “a” if the word that follows begins with a consonant:
Alternatively, use “an” if the following word begins with a vowel:
What we’ve discussed so far is pretty straightforward: Use “a” before words that start with consonants and “an” before words that begin with vowels. But it’s not just about the letters — it’s also about the sounds.
When certain vowels make a consonant sound at the beginning of a word, it’s appropriate to use the indefinite article “a” with that word. For example, pair “a” with words that start with “e” and make the “yoo” sound, such as “a euphemism” and “a eucalyptus tree.” “A university” and “a uniform” receive similar treatment. The same is true of “o” words that begin with a “w” sound.
On the flip side, words with a silent “h” use “an” (as in the “herb” example from earlier). This includes “an honor” or “an hour.” The same is true of initialisms that start with the consonant letters “F,” “H,” “L,” “M,” “N,” “R,” “S,” and “X.” These all begin with a vowel sound, so they need to be paired with “an.”
There’s some debate about whether “a historic” or “an historic” is correct. The choice usually comes down to pronunciation, but there’s also a bit of tradition at play with this word. In British English, the “h” is silent, so “an historic” would be correct. In American English, the “h” was pronounced after the 19th century, so it would be logical to use “a historic,” but the indefinite article “an” is still commonly used, especially with “historical.” The Oxford English Dictionary notes that around a quarter of the examples of “historical” are preceded with “an” rather than “a.”
Wait, what? Seriously, I've played the piano since I was 6 (I'm 73) and took formal lessons from about 6 to about 13 (at which point I picked up guitar and concentrated on that), and I don't remember hearing anything about not playing black keys with my thumb.
In fact I do it all the time, for example doing an F# major triad.
So I assume you mean something else in particular. For example do you mean when running a scale (in which case the thumb only hits white keys)?
Adjectives absolutely have to be in this order: opinion-size-age-shape-colour-origin-material-purpose Noun. So you can have a lovely little old rectangular green French silver whittling knife. But if you mess with that order in the slightest you’ll sound like a maniac.
I’m still trying to figure out when to use ‘who’ versus ‘whom’. Ain’t nobody got time for that.
In 1953, the nuns would discourage you from fingering the RH of a descending F major scale 5-4-3-2-1 (Bb) -3-2-1 by telling you not to put your thumb on a black key. The reason was to preserve proper hand position (short fingers on white keys, long fingers on black keys).
If you’re playing in the key of F# major, your hand position must necessarily change. In that case, thumb (RH) on F# would be correct.
The concept of changing hand positions was beyond the scope of beginning lessons, so she would cite the “no thumb on black keys” rule.
All letters represent sounds.
More precisely, thumb on F# is correct if you’re playing and F# triad.
A scale would be fingered 2-3-4-1 (B natural) -2-3-1-2.
Ah, yes, thank you, that all makes sense. :-)
Almost everyone has an a***ole. Certain people qualify as a a***ole. There are still other people who get to be called THE a***ole.
If I recall correctly, fish is used for a single fish, or a bunch of the same type of fish. But if you have a bunch of more than one type of fish it is fishes.
Bfl
“More precisely, thumb on F# is correct if you’re playing and F# triad.”
I have no clue about the music stuff - and assume you meant to say “an F# triad.” I don’t have time to go through the article again - but “an F#” sounds better than “a F#” to me - and seems to contradict what I got from the article.
Of course the F# itself will still sound the same!!
Found it:
“The same is true of initialisms that start with the consonant letters “F,” “H,” “L,” “M,” “N,” “R,” “S,” and “X.” These all begin with a vowel sound, so they need to be paired with “an.”
I was going to ask how they have a “vowel sound” - but I guess they are pronounced EF, AH, EL, EM, EN, AR, ES, EX???
Yes, as when referring to liberals. EF em
“...How many fish do we need before we have fishes?”
In the case of the rare word with a super-plural, I was taught that it was a case of the super-plural denoting separate groups of a particular item, such as, for example: One fish, one hundred fish, two dozen groups of fishes.
The only other English words I know of that have super-plural forms as well as ordinary plural forms are: Brother —> Brothers —> Brethren, and the very archaic: Sister —> Sisters —> Sistren.
“The” is a definite article — the only definite article in English, in fact”
Pick up that shoe. Is “that” not a definite article?
Well, they also get their a’s and r’s mixed up at the end of words (words ending with an a, they pronounce with an r, and words that end with an r, they pronounce with an a).
(Some yankees do that too, I suppose they picked up up from the Brits).
They are really confused folk...
Nothing there I didn’t already know, except for the use with historical. “a historical” sounds wrong to me, “an historical” natural, but I feared it would sound like an affectation to others. Now I am good with it. I believe that most educated English speakers of English actually do pronounce “h”. I recall Anthony Burgess writing that he thought Americans were educated because they pronounce their “h”’s.
I could use an app.
I could use a nap.
I learned it was dependent on the word it actually referred to...A (eye) exam, where the “exam” was the object....or he bought a ice cream cone....but, over the years, they decided to use what sounded more convenient....so “an eye exam” or “an ice cream cone” became the defacto norms...even the rjules ofthe language have changed....
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