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An or a

In a sentence: I use a(n) hydrometer to measure the concentration of a solution..... The "a" seems to be correct but "an" sounds correct. Which should it be?

Re: An or a

It's a hydrometer. I think that "h" is pretty hard.

The word "historic" attracts the same question, and the world is pretty undecided whether it should be an historic or a historic.

Re: An or a

hi.
there is nothing to be confused
we just use "an" for the nouns that start with these letters:(a,e,o,i,u) and we use "a" for the rest of nouns.
examples:
an orange/an umbrella/an elephant/an apple/an idiot person/
a sheep/a telephone ....

Re: An or a

Actually, Jack, that's not always right. It depends on the sound of the first letter.

Take "unicorn" for example. That starts with a "yu" sound. So, it's a unicorn not an unicorn.

It's an RTA not a RTA, and it's a US not an US.
There's more on an and a here.

Re: An or a

When it comes to words starting with a spoken "h" sound, such as in the original question, there is a (not often observed) rule as follows:

Before words where the stress falls on the first syllable (including single-syllable words), a is correct, never an:
A hit; a whole lot; A history of Britain; a handy short-cut.

Before words where the stress falls on a syllable other than the first one, an is correct, though a is widely used:
An hotel; an historic occasion; an horologist

This is so little understood and inconsistently observed that you can get away with using a everywhere except where the "h" is silent (e.g. an honourable man; an honest mistake). But to be absolutely correct and have the satisfaction of smiling inwardly at everybody else's puzzled looks , just follow the above guidelines. Good luck!

Re: An or a

... so that would make it an hydrometer (but a hydrogen molecule), etc.