4 ms·

“An Historic Day” Shouldn’t that be “A Historic Day”?

sandworm101 2y ago
No. An is used before vowel sounds, not just vowels. Ive had this corrected many times by brits. Imho, british education is much more focused on speaking english than writing it, which changes the emphasis of some rules. But it sounds strange when speaking in a non-brit accent. "An istoric" v "An historic".
- brianlash 2y ago
  Historic begins with a hard h consonant sound. The h isn't silent. "A historic" is correct. With that said, I don't personally have a problem with "an historic." I recognize it as a convention adopted by people whose dialect favors the silent h historic.
  - card_zero 2y ago
    'owever, "an historic" is more historic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-dropping#H-insertion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-dropping#H-insertion The silent h is because words like this were originally French. Victorians started pronouncing the h again.
  - sandworm101 2y ago
    The difference in accent in relation to the written word between the old and new world is tied to the geographic and religious histories of the two cultures. North American english strives to mirror spoken and written language, whereas the older cultures in the UK see little problem with such differences.
    - card_zero 2y ago
      In the case of historic, herb, etc., it's the other way round.
blitzar 2y ago
Yes it should. Sadly, some people like to butcher the English language, and it has become acceptable.
- InitialLastName 2y ago
  Other examples of butchering the English language in this way: https://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/play_view.php?WorkID=coriolanus&Act=4&Scene=5&Scope=scene&LineHighlight=2868#2868 https://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/play_view.... (line 2875) https://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/play_view.php?WorkID=henry4p2&Act=2&Scene=2&Scope=scene&LineHighlight=1010#1010 https://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/play_view.... https://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/play_view.php?WorkID=henry4p2&Act=4&Scene=1&Scope=scene&LineHighlight=2299#2299 https://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/play_view....
card_zero 2y ago
Optionally. "Like many terms that start with a non-silent h but have emphasis on their second syllable, some people precede historic with an, others with a." https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/historic https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/historic The non-silent h (sound) is itself optional.

No. An is used before vowel sounds, not just vowels. Ive had this corrected many times by brits. Imho, british education is much more focused on speaking english than writing it, which changes the emphasis of some rules. But it sounds strange when speaking in a non-brit accent. "An istoric" v "An historic".

brianlash 2y ago
Historic begins with a hard h consonant sound. The h isn't silent. "A historic" is correct. With that said, I don't personally have a problem with "an historic." I recognize it as a convention adopted by people whose dialect favors the silent h historic.
- card_zero 2y ago
  'owever, "an historic" is more historic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-dropping#H-insertion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-dropping#H-insertion The silent h is because words like this were originally French. Victorians started pronouncing the h again.
- sandworm101 2y ago
  The difference in accent in relation to the written word between the old and new world is tied to the geographic and religious histories of the two cultures. North American english strives to mirror spoken and written language, whereas the older cultures in the UK see little problem with such differences.
  - card_zero 2y ago
    In the case of historic, herb, etc., it's the other way round.

blitzar 2y ago

Yes it should. Sadly, some people like to butcher the English language, and it has become acceptable.

InitialLastName 2y ago
Other examples of butchering the English language in this way: https://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/play_view.php?WorkID=coriolanus&Act=4&Scene=5&Scope=scene&LineHighlight=2868#2868 https://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/play_view.... (line 2875) https://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/play_view.php?WorkID=henry4p2&Act=2&Scene=2&Scope=scene&LineHighlight=1010#1010 https://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/play_view.... https://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/play_view.php?WorkID=henry4p2&Act=4&Scene=1&Scope=scene&LineHighlight=2299#2299 https://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/play_view....

card_zero 2y ago

Optionally. "Like many terms that start with a non-silent h but have emphasis on their second syllable, some people precede historic with an, others with a." https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/historic https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/historic The non-silent h (sound) is itself optional.