The dreaded Past Indefinite

It is surprising that someone can type with his head so far up his a**

Please...

Well, the concept of a word being silent was present in many grammar books until just a couple of decades ago. Nowadays, it is, however, not used that often.

For someone who is fluent in English, this should just come naturally without giving it any thought. But for learners, it can, and often does, cause problems. They are better off aware of the rules.

To be honest (silent "h"), I've never really thought about it. It just comes naturaly and feels right.

The expression hard h and silent h are not accurate. A word beginning with h may be pronounced with a consonant or a vowel.

You just dont think only, you are perfectly correct. It has something to do with phonetics. When two vowels come together, they can only make a dipthong which usually belongs to a single word. It is phonetically impracticable. Just try to say the following sentence.

A apple a hour is always a amazing treat. You will see how difficult it becomes to say it in fast speech.

Whenever a word beginning with h is pronounced with a vowel (usually an a), 'an' and not 'a' has to be used. Whenever the consonant 'h' is used, only 'a' is acceptable and never 'an'.

... I take a high road, and you take a low road. [Bernard Shaw]

My kingdom needs an heir; I need a son. [Beowulf]

Yes you did :O)

Well done !

Brit, isn;t that what I just said?

I have always been under the impression that If the word is pronounced with a hard "h", then use an "a". (house, hotel). Use an "a" if the "h" is silent. (honour, hour)

Segmund, are you calling people names again?

I think it is AN hour, but a house...simply because the H is not pronounced in hour, but it is in house. Words beginning with

a,e,i, o u need AN.

You can say this only in the English your mommy taught you:

An hot summer. An high road. An Hell.

Your mommy probably taught you this:

A hour. A honorable lord.

Your mommy was right, as long as the conversation was limited to the four walls of your house, but nowhere else in New Zealand, nor in Britain, nor in the United States of America the above can be deemed grammatically correct.

I was seriously thinking you knew a little bit of English, but now I am convinced that by calling you stupid, I would just be insulting the whole community of people with a low intelligence. Get a life loser.

Didn't you see the titties? English has always had the rule 'an before an H word'. Yank English = butchered English.

"In some Maori accents" How many Maori accents do you know? And what ones start their sentences with 'An'?

You telling me to look it up? Clearly you have not. Make sure your advice and accusations are factual before commenting.

In some Maori accents yes, but in British English, which is the gold standard by far, it is a Havana, not an. Why do you not look it up in a dictionary.

Brit, that should be 'an' Havana. ( o Y o )

I heard she had left because you couldn't carry her put. (Past Perfect used in reported speech).

My Cuban Shotputter rolled a Havana on her thighs.

My Cuban Shotputter did not want to leave Qatar.

Did my Cuban Shotputter leave Qatar of her own accord ?

WTF... I thought I landed on some e-learning website...lol

Thanks a bunch.

I see. So...complete opposite meaning to FFS. Good to know!

Ryan, TFS like Thanks For Sharing.

Is TFS like FFS?

TFS Segmund.

Who cares unless one is writing an academic paper??!!!

Sorry. Just in a bit of a bad mood and feel like being a Negative Nelly.

Thanks for your correction. I agree, you are right.

As to whether it is relevant to QatarLiving, certainly it is. Because so far I have seen this specific problem with too many people with otherwise adequate English. It sounds a bit awkward, at least to me, to find someone make such a silly mistake.

I am not saying I am any authority on English. My own English needs a great deal of overhaul. And I should ever be so thankful to you, if you could continue, with the same zeal, provided the zeal is genuine in nature, and provided no criticism for the sake of criticism is what you mean by it.

Yes, you rock! Thanks again.

Also the usual spelling of 'to' is 'to' NOT ot.............

Sentences like 'I shall have to be get going'

Look at the ungratefulness of these QL kinds, OP you certainly deserve better than this.Next time, try future perfect indefinite.

It is more important to make yourself understood than to be grammatically perfect.

ROFL paint..her ! :)

tinker what is gaaaaddd :P, missing spellings??

mafi malum englisi :D

OP seems to have got carried away by a couple of compliments on QL....:)

Even in your language, Mike, 'ingles' should have a capital 'I' at the beginning!

Yo no hablo ingles

Grammar Nazi schooled..

This great favor of yours to the human kind (QL kinds) shall be remembered on the ' Day of Judgement'.

Thanks for your righteous deed .. correcting mistakes .. God bless you !

so the preacher (segmund) needs a lesson from kiwi in qatar...LOL

funny!

Sorry, English Grammar.

hahaha.........one Noble Prize in English literature.

'Does it really matter that much on QL? As long as people are communicating and are being understood, who really cares?'

The pot calling the kettle black?

"adequate English" should be 'English adequately'.

"like ot just" should be 'like to just'.

"a few example of some sentence" should be 'a few examples of some sentences' or 'an example of a sentence' or 'an example of some sentences'.

"The servants knew. (positive)" should be ' The servants knew (positive).

"The servants did know (emphatic positive)" should be 'The servants did know (emphatic positive).'

"INCORRECT" should be 'incorrect'.

"I hope this effort is worth some while." doesn't make sense. Should be 'I hope you found this useful.'

Does it really matter that much on QL? As long as people are communicating and are being understood, who really cares?