definite article
An indefinite article indicates that its noun is
not a particular one (or ones) identifiable to
the listener. It may be something that the
speaker is mentioning for the first time, or its
precise identity may be irrelevant or
hypothetical, or the speaker may be making a
general statement about any such thing.
English uses a/an , from the Old English forms
of the number “one”, as its primary indefinite
article. The form an is used before words
that begin with a vowel sound (even if
spelled with an initial consonant, as in an
hour), and a before words that begin with a
consonant sound (even if spelled with a
vowel, as in a European).
She had a house so large that an elephant
would get lost without a map.
Before some words beginning with a
pronounced (not silent) h in an unstressed
first syllable, such as hallucination , hilarious,
historic(al) , horrendous , and horrific, some
(especially older) British writers prefer to use
an over a (an historical event, etc.). [7] An is
also preferred before hotel by some writers
of British English (probably reflecting the
relatively recent adoption of the word from
French, in which the h is not pronounced). [8]
The use of “an” before words beginning with
an unstressed “h” is more common generally
in British English than in American. [8]
American writers normally use a in all these
cases, although there are occasional uses of
an historic(al) in American English.[9]
According to the New Oxford Dictionary of
English, such use is increasingly rare in British
English too. [7] Unlike British English,
American English typically uses an before
herb, since the h in this word is silent for
most Americans. The correct usage in respect
of the term “hereditary peer” was the subject
of an amendment debated in the UK
Parliament. [10]