Grammar Zone | a historic or an historic?

In this episode of The A to Z English Podcast, Xochitl and Jack talk about “a” and “an.”

Transcript:

00:00:00

Jack

Hey, A is the English podcast listeners. It’s Jack here and we just want to announce that we are now on WeChat. Our WeChat ID is A-Z English podcast that is A-Z English podcast, one word all lowercase.

00:00:17

Jack

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00:00:18

Jack

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00:00:22

Jack

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00:00:23

Jack

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00:00:50

Jack

Welcome to the A-Z English podcast. My name is Jack and I’m here with my co-host social. And today we are in the grammar zone and we’re going to talk about ohh and on.

00:01:02

Jack

In social, what is the difference between those two articles? Why do we?

00:01:07

Jack

Why do we separate those? We have two different words for them.

00:01:12

Xochitl

UM.

00:01:13

Xochitl

Because they have to agree with the next word. So if.

00:01:20

Xochitl

The next word starts with a the vowel. Then it has to be a N.

00:01:26

Xochitl

So, for example, an elephant an A A.

00:01:33

Jack

An igloo.

00:01:34

Xochitl

On apple.

00:01:35

Jack

Yeah.

00:01:36

Xochitl

Yeah, an English an apple. And if it’s a, it’s because the next the following thing that you’re referring to. Uh. Noun that you’re referring to, I guess, usually starts with a a consonant and not a vowel. So it’d be like a pie, a cake.

00:01:56

Xochitl

A A car.

00:01:59

Xochitl

And etcetera, etcetera. Just anything that starts with the continent and then on and.

00:02:04

Jack

A podcast.

00:02:06

Xochitl

Yeah, podcast.

00:02:07

Jack

MHM.

00:02:09

Xochitl

And an is for anything that starts with.

00:02:11

Xochitl

A vowel, I think.

00:02:12

Xochitl

It’s because it it does sound. It does make it sound smoother, like think about saying a elephant or a elephant instead of an an elephant. It just avoids your vowel noises all mushing together.

00:02:21

Jack

Yes.

00:02:27

Jack

Right. It’s very awkward in English to have two vowel sounds together. You we can’t do that, right? They need to be interrupted by a consonant sound like uh.

00:02:39

Jack

Uh, like a a egg is is 2 two vowel sounds together, right?

00:02:45

Jack

So yeah, we can’t. It’s just a, it’s a a phonetic rule in English that you just.

00:02:45

발표자

Yeah.

00:02:52

Jack

It’s much easier if you break it up with the with the consonant. So we say on an egg, an apple. Any glue like that.

00:03:02

Xochitl

Well, thanks.

00:03:03

Jack

Yeah.

00:03:05

Xochitl

Yeah, I think that’s pretty much it. It just keep in mind.

00:03:09

Xochitl

If it’s going to start with a consonant, make sure that you are using A and then if it’s going to start with the vowel, the next following we’re just going to start with the vowel. Make sure that you’re doing AN on and yeah, that’s.

00:03:21

Jack

Right.

00:03:22

Jack

What about? What about a an hour?

00:03:25

Jack

And that’s an H.

00:03:26

Xochitl

Uh.

00:03:27

Jack

So we should say our.

00:03:28

Xochitl

Yeah, that’s true.

00:03:30

Xochitl

Yeah, but you don’t you say an hour. Ha. There are some exceptions to this rule, and I think it comes down to if that consonant is silent and our age is silent. So you’re still making two vowel sounds. So you would do an AM hour instead.

00:03:42

발표자

Right.

00:03:49

Jack

What about source? Yeah.

00:03:49

Xochitl

Of an hour.

00:03:52

Xochitl

But see, that’s not.

00:03:54

Jack

It’s not horse. Yeah, we say on horse.

00:03:56

Xochitl

Yeah, I don’t know why is it like that. Jake. Jack.

00:04:01

Jack

My my name is Jack by.

00:04:02

Jack

The way no, no, no, you’re you. You are. You’re exactly right. It it doesn’t. The rule is not. It’s not a spelling rule.

00:04:12

Jack

It’s a. It’s a. It’s a phonetic rule. It’s a sound rule, so if it sounds like a vowel, we use on and so our is a silent H so we say an hour.

00:04:26

Jack

But horse, we actually pronounce the H sound, so we say a horse.

00:04:31

Jack

So so it’s it’s doesn’t come down to spelling a lot, a lot of teachers teach it as a spelling rule in in school in grammar school, but it’s not. And this is where a very strange word that a very strange example emerges here with historic.

00:04:52

Jack

I hear it all the time on the news N historic event.

00:04:58

Jack

And there’s no reason to say. And historic if you’re saying, if you’re pronouncing the H, it would be all historic, not N historic. Have you?

00:05:09

Jack

Heard that before.

00:05:09

Xochitl

Yeah, I I have heard that mistake. A historic. But yeah, it is a historic event. But Jack, I’m confused because when you do.

00:05:20

Xochitl

Oh yeah, that’s true.

00:05:22

Xochitl

A horse? A historic event.

00:05:26

Jack

Yeah.

00:05:26

Xochitl

And you wouldn’t say umm horse because it’s again you’re pronouncing the.

00:05:33

Jack

Yeah. When people say unhistoric, they’re they’re being, they think they’re being super smart, but they’re actually being too clever that they’re actually wrong. It’s like, yes, exactly. It’s kind of a it’s a it’s a weird, like academia thing. I’ve heard it so many times, and it used to drive my.

00:05:33

Xochitl

Ah.

00:05:43

Xochitl

They’re overthinking.

00:05:53

Jack

My my teacher in my university crazy.

00:05:57

Jack

When when she would hear that. And so I kind of learned from my teacher. It was like, oh, no, you gotta follow the rules, right? All historic. But if you say historic and you don’t say the H, you could say N historic event. But historic is not really a word we use, right. We say historic with an H.

00:06:17

Jack

So a historic event we have stuff.

00:06:22

Xochitl

Crazy. All right, it’s nice if you have any more questions for us or any more grammar issues that you would like us to resolve here on the podcast, make sure to leave us a comment down below at A-Z, newspodcast.com shoot us an e-mail at AZ englishpodcast@gmail.com and also make sure that you join the WeChat or WhatsApp groups to make sure that you can talk to Jack.

00:06:23

Jack

Yeah.

00:06:43

Xochitl

Directly and join the conversation there. Remember the Jack and I are now doing a special corner. Yeah, English corner. So that’s a lot of fun. It’s only 80 RMB or 10 USD dollars.

00:06:49

Jack

English corner.

00:07:00

Xochitl

Per month. So for 20 classes you’re basically paying $0.50 a class, and it’s really great. It’s a community where a lot of people are excellent English speakers and we really enjoyed putting it together. It’s one hour a day from Monday to Friday, and if you want more information, make sure to message.

00:07:05

Jack

Exactly.

00:07:19

Xochitl

Or Jack directly on the WeChat or WhatsApp groups.

00:07:23

Xochitl

And we’ll see you guys next time.

00:07:24

Xochitl

Bye bye bye.