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To: AntiGuv; Alamo-Girl
As for the words in my proposals: "A[n] hypothesis" I found this:
A is used before consonants, an before a vowel sound. A comes before words that begin with a u, but are pronounced as though they began with a y: a union; a useful gadget. An comes before a silent h: an heir; an honour. Some people still use an before h in words from French, where the h was silent: an hotel. This is rather old-fashioned. There is no reason to use an before an h which is sounded.
Source: a or an.
So I guess it's "a hypothesis." But to my ear, it sounds a bit like "a apple." I'm just old-fashioned.
1,603 posted on 05/28/2005 12:29:09 PM PDT by PatrickHenry (Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas. The List-O-Links is at my homepage.)
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To: PatrickHenry

Perhaps the frequency of use of the word lends itself to the de-hypostasis (grin) of the h in hypothesis. A physical or biological scientist speaking of his theory is going to be using that word a lot. So H's tend to get dropped as a waste of breath. An-'ypothesis, an-'ypothesis.


1,609 posted on 05/28/2005 12:38:05 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (No wonder the Southern Baptist Church threw Greer out: Only one god per church! [Ann Coulter])
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To: PatrickHenry

Vladimir Horowitz's album "An Historic Return, Horowitz at Carnegie Hall" did get an Emmy.


1,631 posted on 05/28/2005 1:13:45 PM PDT by Doctor Stochastic (Vegetabilisch = chaotisch is der Charakter der Modernen. - Friedrich Schlegel)
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