Nigel, Depends on how the word is pronounced by the author. If they say, for example, "'istory" rather than "history", they should put "an" in front of it. Words like honour have a silent h, or a spelled but unpronounced h, so they should have "an" before them. We might have learnt the rule at school that words that start with a vowel take an and words that start with a consonant take a. But you need to apply this from a phonetic point of view, not a spelling point of view. Hope this helps, KT Kirsty Taylor Editor This transmission is for the intended addressee only and is confidential information. If you have received this transmission in error, please delete it and notify the sender. The contents of this e-mail are the opinion of the writer only and are not endorsed by the Mincom Group of companies unless expressly stated otherwise. Nigel Dawes <NigelD@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent by: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 17-06-2004 02:45 PM Please respond to austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx To "Austechwriter (austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx)" <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> cc Subject atw: "An H" Verses "A H" Dear AuzTechies Can you please explain to me why I so often see "an" precede a word beginning with H? When I went to school, only words commencing with a vowel were preceded by "an". Has anyone else experienced this annoyance? Please enlighten me! Thanks and Regards Nigel -- -- This transmission is for the intended addressee only and is confidential information. If you have received this transmission in error, please notify the sender and delete the transmission. The contents of this e-mail are the opinion of the writer only and are not endorsed by the Mincom Limited unless expressly stated otherwise. ************************************************** To post a message to austechwriter, send the message to austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx To subscribe to austechwriter, send a message to austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "subscribe" in the Subject field. To unsubscribe, send a message to austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe" in the Subject field. To search the austechwriter archives, go to www.freelists.org/archives/austechwriter To contact the list administrator, send a message to austechwriter-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxx **************************************************