Tuesday, September 20, 2011

A and An

Today, let's talk about "a" and "an". When I was in school, may I add, a long time ago, my teacher told us this simple rule. Use "a" for words beginning with a consonant letter....a pussy cat, a church mouse, a silly nanny; use "an" for words beginning with a vowel....an orang utan, an old horse, an idiot, and so on.

Actually, the choice depends on whether the word begins with a consonant sound or not. This may be right or wrong, and is a bit tricky, as some words may be pronounced differently with dialects from different parts of the world. Take the word "history". The "h" is usually prounounced, hence "a history". However, with Cockney English,  sometimes the word is pronounced with the "h" dropped.  Hence, "an historian" or "an historical novel".  Saying "an history", "an hotel", etc., is incorrect and is not in keeping with proper English pronunciation anywhere, and does not appear in standard writing.

Above everything, in proper English, with words beginning with "h" but not pronounced, "an" is used. "An hour", "an heir". This is correct.

"A" is also used for words beginning with a "You" sound.  Thus, we say "a used old bag" or "a United fan"

Finally (?) , common errors occur in report writing, where numbers are involved. These are usually out of sheer carelessness or ignorance. For example, "They are going to build a RM80 million sports complex down the road." "An" should be the correct word.  "With a Do-It-Yourself bookshelves and wardrobes available in the market, furniture makers are losing out to the departmental stores". The "a" should be dropped.      

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Flammable and Inflammable


Look at these pairs of words. Accurate and inaccurate. Appropriate and inappropriate. Decent and indecent. You can name many pairs like those I have pointed out. The second word is the opposite of the first, simply by adding the prefix "in".  There is, however, a strange case, in the words flammable and inflammable.

There is no difference in meaning between flammable and inflammable. Both mean burn easily. There is a preference, however,  for flammable in both British and American English. 
   
Actually, inflammable is the original form, derived from the verb inflame. "In" is derived from the Latin preposition meaning en (engulf, endanger, enslave) not the prefix meaning un. But because it’s easy to interpret the in as the common negative prefix in (as in inaccurate, inappropriate), the word has always caused confusion. Therefore it was only a matter of time, that Safety and Fire Protection Agencies and Associations would urged the use of the word "flammable" rather than "inflammable".

Bill Bryson (Dictionary of Troublesome Words, Penguin Reference, 1984) has this to say, "Because the meaning of inflammable is so often misapprehended, there is an increasing tendency to use the less ambiguous flammable. In other cases this might be considered a regrettable concession to ignorance. But it would be even more regrettable to insist on linguistic purity at the expense of safety."

Friday, September 16, 2011

Hanged and Hung

Now, hanged and hung are derived from the same word "hang". You hang pictures on the wall. So they were hung there last week. When prisoners are sentenced to be executed by hanging, it is laughable to say that they were hung yesterday. The correct term is "hanged". It is not that difficult to remember then. People are hanged. Pictures and other objects are hung.

But a reminder. Prisoners were hanged. Not "hanged to death". "Hanged" means that the prisoner is dead already.