[quote author=Sleekbaby post=

Aaahahahaaa...uncle phonics, where did you learn your own?

The word herb does not have a silent 'h' in british pronunciation. the H is sounded! In fact let me transcribe it /hɜːb/. Though Americans omit the 'h' but we dont teach American diction but British so we use their pronunciation which sound the 'H'


I'm a phonetic and diction instructor so let me educate you little.

Now the word "happy " begins with 'h' a constant sound hence it must attract article 'a' because the H is sounded. If you check the transcription in Bre standard dictionary, you ll see something like this /ˈhæpi/. As long as the H appears in the transcription, it must be sounded.

It is only words like "honour" that can take article an" because the "H" is silent hence it is pronounced with the vowel 'or' and in the transcription, you'll not find the 'H' rather youll see something like this /ˈɒnə/. The phonetic symbol in the beginning is the sound of 'or', middle one is 'nnnn' while the final symbol is called shuwa banana.



Hope it's clear enough

Stargurl20:
The teacher is correct. It doesn't matter if the word starts with consonant, aw u pronounce from d start matters too. So the answer is AN!

in which English textbook did you read that?

go and buy "brighter grammar 1-4"
and read english grammar from scratch please.

"An Happy girl"

that teacher should be SACKED and BANNED from teaching

Check it out landers ....

Nigerfine2:
Most yorubas find it difficult to say , a House, a happy birthday, a hotel.
They will come and debate and argue with their accent as if English man welcomes that.
Some of them can't distinguish the use of AS and HAS.
nothing like an happy biko, ejoo

Thank you, but this is actually a general mistake anyone can make. Then why pinpointing at yoruba's accent as if you people too don't have your own comma. Wictcheew

See the so called brilliant o. They are like "the teacher is a disgrace" , ".. shld be placed on suspension" etc. Yet, most of them still making d same mistake d teacher made. Also there are engineers among u people DT still patronise your road side counterparts to get simple things done. Equally, there are some graduates who can't independently carry out any task in their fields without consulting Google or their colleagues.

So what make u different from d teacher?


I tell u, English is like computer system. it's open ended. U can't master it all.

That topic may sound simple, but I tell u even most English language graduates will still get one or two a/an article wrongly except he painstakingly crosscheck to confirm his usage.

How many people know words such as "ewe", "European", etc phonetically start with consonant /j/?

As in "a ewe" , a "European airline" etc.

Sleekbaby:
WORLDPEACE Like the guy above said, she pronounces the word with the H silent probably because of her accent.
If you are going to correct her, you should go there with a book or article that treats the topic.
Good luck.

Thank you, I will do that

Hi Sleek, it seems you don't know how to correctly use the "Quote" option on this forum... Or are you typing these on purpose

Dzeimzb:
The teacher is wrong. Though there are exceptions like "hour" , "hospital", but the H is happy is pronounced with the article "a" and not "an". Her tribe shouldn't be an excuse for her incompetence though

Hospital kwa..

Please it's "a hospital" not an hospital

Use 'an' for hour, honour etc in which the h is grammatically silent

Using 'an' for house, happy, hospital etc is archaic and out of use. The h is pronounced and not silent

#I stand to be corrected though

GrammarNazi1:

It's...

something is very wrong with u. Rather to join in the debate of if it is 'A' or 'An', you are correcting if it is "it" or "it's". Something is really very wrong with you

Ayomide11111:


Thank you, but this is actually a general mistake anyone can make. Then why pinpointing at yoruba's accent as if you people too don't have your own comma. Wictcheew

It cant be a general mistake, you people have that feature of your accent and it was relevant to the discussion

When another person comes to ask "why did my teacher say "yellow" is pronounced "yerrow"" you can bring out Igbo comma

You dont need to cover the truth all the time because of tribal wahala

Stargurl20:
The teacher is correct. It doesn't matter if the word starts with consonant, aw u pronounce from d start matters too. So the answer is AN!

LMAO... Get yourself a dictionary then come back to correct yourself

Sleekbaby:
Please I need urgent and clear answer on this. An assignment was given to my niece to complete the following sentences with (a) or (an) and one of the questions is
-------------- happy girl.

I told her to fill it with (a) but the teacher marked it bad, I wrote on the book and asked if the "H" is silent in happy and she wrote back that it is a vowel.

I want to go there tomorrow but I want different views on it first.

It depends where in the English speaking world you are. Outside of Nigeria, please pronounce the H.

The answer is "A"

midnighter:


I'm not sure but I think anambra people are mostly the culprits...I've never heard anyone from Enugu, abia or ebonyi sounding like that

I think they have some "r" and "L" exchanges

hmm...okay o midnighter

Stargurl20:
The teacher is correct. It doesn't matter if the word starts with consonant, aw u pronounce from d start matters too. So the answer is AN!

The H in happy is not definitely not silent... 'A' is the right article to come before happy. I'd advise the OP to just take an android phone to the teacher, open merriam webster dictionary and your problems are solved.

You Need Expo Abi !!!

Sleekbaby:
Stargurl20 The teacher is correct. It doesn't matter if the word starts with consonant, aw u pronounce from d start matters too. So the answer is AN!

I know that there are exceptions to the rule but is H silent in "happy" does it sound like a vowel when pronounced? I know that "an" can be used for "hour" because it sounds like our when pronounce and even in heir but h in happy sounds like h which is consonant. Please throw more light because I'm here to learn. Thank you.

you have been on Nairaland for 6years and still don't know how to quote? what's wrong with you?

BanevsJoker:
Only if you are Yoruba. The rules of English Language do not apply to them because of their H-Factor.

nothing like h Factor. grow brain

deuzgreat:

nothing like h Factor. grow brain

Why so serious?

Stargurl20:
The teacher is correct. It doesn't matter if the word starts with consonant, aw u pronounce from d start matters too. So the answer is AN!

Irrespective of our intonation or the way we pronounce, what is right is right according to English language. Article 'a' is used with consonants while 'an' is used with vowels. The 'h' can't be pronounced silently so she was wrong.

thatigboman:
something is very wrong with u. Rather to join in the debate of if it is 'A' or 'An', you are correcting if it is "it" or "it's". Something is really very wrong with you

Mynd44
Dominique
Lalasticlala

Sleekbaby:
Stargurl20 The teacher is correct. It doesn't matter if the word starts with consonant, aw u pronounce from d start matters too. So the answer is AN!

I know that there are exceptions to the rule but is H silent in "happy" does it sound like a vowel when pronounced? I know that "an" can be used for "hour" because it sounds like our when pronounce and even in heir but h in happy sounds like h which is consonant. Please throw more light because I'm here to learn. Thank you.

It boils down to semantics. Article "an" is used for hospital( pronounced ospital) but I won't flag off an individual that uses the artcle "a" provided the h sound is obvious. Same semantics applirs to happy. Note that its consonant sound and not consonant word.

BanevsJoker:
Only if you are Yoruba. The rules of English Language do not apply to them because of their H-Factor.

Lol! Funny enough, the same H factor applies to some words in English.

Juliearth:
It boils down to semantics. Article "an" is used for hospital( pronounced ospital) but I won't flag off an individual that uses the artcle "a" provided the h sound is obvious. Same semantics applirs to happy. Note that its consonant sound and not consonant word.

Historically words like "hospital" and "hotel" have been pronounced as "ospital" and "otel", so they used "an". But this pronunciation is no longer accepted

the "h" in "happy" is always pronounced except if the person is not saying it correctly. So she is wrong

midnighter:
Historically words like "hospital" and "hotel" have been pronounced as "ospital" and "otel", so they used "an". But this pronunciation is no longer accepted

the "h" in "happy" is always pronounced except if the person is not saying it correctly. So she is wrong

You are right!

eniorisha:
See the so called brilliant o. They are like "the teacher is a disgrace" , ".. shld be placed on suspension" etc. Yet, most of them still making d same mistake d teacher made. Also there are engineers among u people DT still patronise your road side counterparts to get simple things done. Equally, there are some graduates who can't independently carry out any task in their fields without consulting Google or their colleagues.

So what make u different from d teacher?


I tell u, English is like computer system. it's open ended. U can't master it all.

That topic may sound simple, but I tell u even most English language graduates will still get one or two a/an article wrongly except he painstakingly crosscheck to confirm his usage.

How many people know words such as "ewe", "European", etc phonetically start with consonant /j/?

As in "a ewe" , a "European airline" etc.

News flash. Your Yoruba people still say; "An European", "An Union". Yes, quote me!

Juliearth:


You are right!

Stargurl20:
aw u pronounce from d start matters too...

So you can pronounce carelessly just to justify a grammatical blunder?

Stargurl20:
The teacher is correct. It doesn't matter if the word starts with consonant.....So the answer is AN!

Not so fast. "H" isn't silent, so Happy should go with an "A."

henryobinna:
How can she say letter H is a vowel?

I believe she wrongly considered the H in Happy silent, not that she thought of it as a vowel.

Juliearth:




It boils down to semantics. Article "an" is used for hospital( pronounced ospital) but I won't flag off an individual that uses the artcle "a" provided the h sound is obvious. Same semantics applirs to happy. Note that its consonant sound and not consonant word.

Thank you