English grammar

"A harmonius" because "harmonius" begins with a consonant.

Hmmm...

I was taught at school (by a very learned Cambridge Graduate), that it "should" be "An harmonious" < , but generally, these days, none of these old rules re applied.

Use of "a" or "an" depends on the sound rather than the letter. To say that all words beginning with consonants get "a" and all those beginning with vowels get "an" is inaccurate.

a unique
an honour
a hospital
an N (the letter)
a NATO country

...It's the sound that matters not the glyph.

Is that even necessarily true, though, because "an historical" is correct even though the h is pronounced? I'm guessing it's one of those situations that doesn't have a hard and fast rule. Or is that an hard and fast rule? Kidding.

Some people (I am one) say "an 'istorical event." Others say "a historical event" with the H pronounded. No one says "an historical event" with the H pronounced.

In my accent, the H in "harmonious" is always pronounced, is it would be "a harmonious."

Grammar GeekSome people (I am one) say "an 'istorical event." Others say "a historical event" with the H pronounded. No one says "an historical event" with the H pronounced.

We have a similar situation in British English with 'hotel'. Most people say 'a hotel'; some say 'an otel'; nobody says 'an hotel'.

I understand the rule to be that an is used before a word beginning with h only when the accent falls on the second syllable, (or when the h is silent), e.g. "an harmonious", "a harmony", "an historic", "a history", "an Homeric poem", "he hit a homer",an hospitable host", "a hospital bed", etc.