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off topic: Which is correct grammar -- "an HTML" or "a HTML" ? This question has always bugged me.
by andre3k1 15y ago
off topic: Which is correct grammar -- "an HTML" or "a HTML" ?
This question has always bugged me.
- ebiester 15y ago"an" -- the sound of the H is the key. It sounds like ay-ch.
- Dobbs 15y agoSilly American, 'H' is pronounced hu-ay-ch not ay-ch. In all seriousness how it is pronounced can and does change depending upon where you come from.
- alexchamberlain 15y agoWhere are you from Dobbs? In Britain, 'H' should be pronounced ay-ch, but the vast majority of people get it wrong.
- Dobbs 15y agoI have no idea where I get it from I'm half American, half British. Looking it up on Wikipedia says that the standard is ay-ch while the non-standard is haitch (which is a better way of spelling what I meant). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H#Name_in_English https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H#Name_in_English
- trafnar 15y agoIt is based on the first sound of the word. If it is a consonant sound use "a" if it is a vowel sound use "an". That is what a professional copywriter told me.
- dangrossman 15y agohttp://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/591/1/ http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/591/1/
- justsee 15y agoAn HTML. As an aside, what increasingly bugs me is the number of programmers who seem to have bought the urban myth that "An green apple" is grammatically correct, and have proceeded to pepper their project documentation with awkward and incorrect statements. A comment on the issue[1]: There is a bizarre urban legend of sorts that you're "supposed to" use "an" if the head noun in the noun phrase it determines begins with a vowel sound, rather than the first word in the noun phrase, giving rise to claims that "an green apple" is somehow "technically" correct. Here is a blog post of someone who seems to have gotten this idea. And here is the discussion on Language Log about that blog post. In any case, the rule is that you use "an" if the next word begins with a vowel sound. Vowel sound is crucial here because many words that begin with vowel letters do not begin with vowel sounds (e.g. user) and vice versa (e.g. hour). This makes it a kind of sandhi rule for "intrusive N" in English for indefinite articles, avoiding hiatus between the article and the following word. [1] http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/152/when-should-i-use-a-vs-an/164#164 http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/152/when-should-i...
- Jgrubb 15y agoJust out of curiosity, what's the usage? Saying (a|an) HTML sounds weird to me, like saying "a plumbing". Isn't it just plumbing/HTML?
- DrJokepu 15y agoAn HTML developer. An HTML editor. An HTML file. An HTML standard. You get the idea.