Re: a/an

["Zen C" <zenizenc -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Thanks, for a moment I was questioning my English grammar...geez..she drove
me nuts.

On 10/12/07, Peter Neilson <neilson -at- windstream -dot- net> wrote:
>
> Yes, as commonly pronounced.
>
> Some make a further rule for words beginning with H:
>
> If the accent is on the first syllable (a humid day), it's "A". If
> elsewhere (an humidifier) it's "AN".
>
> The question on whether to adopt this rule revolves around how one
> pronounces the H. Those who tend towards "youmidifier" will tend to
> choose "an" and those who distinctly say "HHHumidifier" might prefer
> "a". Those who call H "a haitch" instead of "an aitch" should absolutely
> say "a" before H. But I'd be reluctant to hire them as tech writers.
>
> If you are documenting humidifiers, avoid the dispute by avoiding the
> indefinite article, and say, "your humidifier" or "the humidifier".
>
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