> A friend and I were recently discussing the "an/a rule". He had written a letter and used the phrase "...an historical website...". I told him it should have been "...a historical website...". The website he had written the letter too even complimented him on his use of "an historical".
>
> The an/a rule, if I remember correctly, is purely phonetic. Use "a" for a consonant sound and "an" for a vowel sound. Therefore, it should be "a historical website". Right??
>
> Kel"can't think of an quote"ly

Both ways are correct. "An historical" is traditionally the way to do it, but "a historical" is too common to call wrong. If enough people want to say it one way, that becomes part of the language.

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