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Subject:Re: an harmless adornment From:"Susan W. Gallagher" <sgallagher -at- STARBASECORP -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 13 Jan 1995 10:03:55 -0800
> > "Yet many speakers and writers today prefer the sound of *an*
> > before historic, which a usage note in 'The American Heritage
> > Dictionary,' third edition, calls 'a harmless adornment in
> > formal writing.'"
> > So there you have it: a harmless adornment. Let personal
> > preference rule.
> Harmless, that is, unless it makes your readers see you as a pompous, ignorant
> snob with pretensions of aristocracy. Which is a possibility.
