"A historic" or "An historic"?

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"A historic" or "An historic"?

A historic.
6
35%
An historic.
4
24%
Depends on how aspirated your h is.
2
12%
Depends on how pretentious you are.
5
29%
 
Total votes: 17

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Notabot
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"A historic" or "An historic"?

Post by Notabot »

Which is it and why?
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Axe
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Post by Axe »

hmmmm [/no not Homer, more like S H 2 on Genesis on bein hit]

tis (as in tis true) "a" and not "an"

nex [/1984 character]
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Rurudyne
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Post by Rurudyne »

I think tense may play a role as to which is preferable. The local idiom would seem to be:

"It was an historic day."

"It is a historic day."

"It will be a historic day."

But I do notice that I will just use "an" when speaking. I guess that sounding out a strong "a" sound is more effort than I'm willing to put out.
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Post by Blaster »

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Post by Rurudyne »

Blaster wrote:An Hero?
An interesting link.

Found this there ... strangely suitable to the title they used:
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Post by Sixswitch »

An historic is correct. I think this is what I use too, but not sure since it's not a phrase I use regularly.

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Post by Treadshot A1 »

An Historic is correct afaik. Though the 'h' becomes silent.
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S_Windell
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Post by S_Windell »

I voted for the third option- depends on how you pronounce "historic." I think "an historic" is actually more correct too, but it can sound a bit funny coming from, say, a guy from the southeast US with a strong "H" sound.
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Post by Treadshot A1 »

Yeah, if you use 'an', don't stress the 'h'. It should sound like 'an-istoric', afaik. Little to no 'h' sound.
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Post by Axe »

I think I need to start playing Red Alert 3. hmm
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Post by Clogs »

Grammatically, 'a historic' is correct. It can only be written that way. The spoken version depends on a) accent, b) intonation and c) not getting it right. Even the Man from the Beeb has been heard to drone: "And this is an historic event..."

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Post by Treadshot A1 »

Can i just make a point? Who the hell would care which way you said it anyways?
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Treadshot A1 wrote:Can i just make a point? Who the hell would care which way you said it anyways?
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Post by Treadshot A1 »

Actually the question was directed at notabot, but anyways...

I wasn't exactly meaning to be so speicific to use names or anything, just curious as to how much it really matters to people...
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Post by Cliffjumper »

Probably more than anything you have to say matters.

I'd say "a historic", though I'd more likely fudge around it - "a day of historical importance"
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Post by RID Scourge »

Treadshot A1 wrote:Can i just make a point? Who the hell would care which way you said it anyways?
Perhaps he's writing a paper for a class? Profs can be fantastic douchebags when it comes to insignificant rules like this. They like to take away points whenever they can. It makes them feel good about themselves.

I voted "an historic" since that's how I hear it said/used for the most part.

EDIT: According to this site I'm wrong: http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/anhistoric.html It also looks like they use "a historic," but "an historical" in terms of results that came up with google.
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Post by wolfbolt86 »

RID Scourge wrote:Perhaps he's writing a paper for a class? Profs can be fantastic douchebags when it comes to insignificant rules like this. They like to take away points whenever they can. It makes them feel good about themselves.
I don't know why they have to be like that. I hated who my English teacher went over every little rule on our paper. I barly passed that class.
I voted the last one. Going by grammer, a historic is correct. But I have meet some who say it goes one way or the other. I don't care either way.
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Post by secretcode »

RID Scourge wrote:Perhaps he's writing a paper for a class? Profs can be fantastic douchebags when it comes to insignificant rules like this. They like to take away points whenever they can. It makes them feel good about themselves.
**** yes. On my English 101 final, my teacher took away a point for each contraction you use. Sad thing is, this rule never existed ANYWHERE during class, despite her insistence, and if it was my final grade would be a lot lower. My paper that would have been a clear 98/100 (Forgot to put the date on the paper) was struck down to a 79/100 due to that.
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Post by Notabot »

wolfbolt86 wrote:I don't know why they have to be like that. I hated who my English teacher went over every little rule on our paper. I barly passed that class.
I voted the last one. Going by grammer, a historic is correct. But I have meet some who say it goes one way or the other. I don't care either way.
Clearly the teacher's fault. Lousy teachers trying to teach lousy basic skills.
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Post by Denyer »

Plus the "who"<-->"how".

Please tell me all that was deliberate.
&quot wrote:On my English 101 final, my teacher took away a point for each contraction you use[d].
Most marking schemes would -- essays are usually expected to not be in conversational style. On the other hand someone should've pointed out the concept of register (i.e. formal versus informal) years before whenever the exam was, unless it was in kindergarten.
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