4 ms·
Speaking of which, is it appropriate to us 'an' in front of 'hysterically'? Yes I do, because YOU are such an hysterically funny person. Did you notic
by Svip 12y ago
Speaking of which, is it appropriate to us 'an' in front of 'hysterically'?
Yes I do, because YOU are such an hysterically funny
person. Did you notice how I used "an" there properly?
~ Josh Lyman, The West Wing
- Stratoscope 12y agoThat would depend on how you pronounce "hysterically". Do you voice the "h" or not? If you pronounce it "iss-tear-ick-lee" then you'd use "an". If you pronounce it "hiss-tear-ick-lee" then you'd use "a". Personally I've never heard the word pronounced with a silent "h". I checked several dictionaries and they all list the word with voiced "h". None of them even list the silent "h" as an alternate pronunciation. Therefore I would say that the voiced "h" is the correct pronunciation, and "an hysterically funny person" is wrong. Given the "did you see" comment, it's a good example of a hypercorrection: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypercorrection http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypercorrection