With the proper pronunciation it would be "a hotel". With a cockney accent
it would be "an 'otel".
Charlie
On Wed, Jul 7, 2010 at 9:57 AM, Piers Hemy <piers@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Indeed so, Jez, full marks for spotting what I had missed. Reminds me that
> I
> get particularly annoyed by a current expression "it is one of the only
> ....".
>
> Back to the question - it's an ugly phrasing, and the problem of "a" or
> "an"
> could be avoided by use of a different adjective. Yes, it's ducking the
> question, but when the answer is not clear, I think it's the only easy
> exit.
> Did you notice, by the way, that I used the indefinite article preceding a
> word beginning with "u" in the sentence before last? I don't think tehre is
> any argument that "an" was correct there, so it is not a spelling rule we
> are questioning, but a pronunciation rule conflicting with a spelling rule
> -
> as pronounced, "unique" begins with a consonant not a vowel!
>
> Now, what about "hotel"? "A hotel" or "an hotel"?
>
> Piers
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jez Cunningham [mailto:jez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> Sent: 07 July 2010 10:48
> To: Olympus Camera Discussion
> Subject: Re: [OM] English usage clarification
>
> Oops, sorry, typo...
>
> If it's unique it should be "the"...
>
>
> On 7 July 2010 11:46, Jez Cunningham <jez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > If it's unique it should "the"...
> > :-)
> > Jez
> >
> > On 7 July 2010 10:41, Wayne Harridge <wayneharridge@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >wrote:
> >
> >> I just read this:
> >>
> >> "...the parking lot, is an unique observation tower with..."
> >>
> >> I'm wondering if "an unique" is correct, doesn't sound right to me,
> >> "an excellent" works, but "a unique" seems correct.
> >>
> >> I always thought the rule was "an" before a word starting with a
> >> vowel, but what about "an unique" ?
> >>
> >> ...Wayne
> >>
> >> Wayne Harridge
> >> http://lrh.structuregraphs.com/
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >>
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> >>
> >
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