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Pastimes : SI Grammar and Spelling Lab
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To: Dayuhan who wrote (1653)12/31/1998 5:55:00 PM
From: Jack Clarke  Read Replies (1) of 4711
 
Steve:

It depends on pronunciation. If you're British, or pretending to be, or if you simply tend to
suppress the initial "h", "an historic" makes perfect sense.

The rule I was taught: If the word beginning with "h" is accented on other than the first syllable, use "an". Therefore "an hisTORic...".
But it obviously doesn't apply to "an hysterectomy", or at least it isn't used that way.

I think the above use is nearly archaic anyway.

Jack
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