A historic day to remember proper grammar

Thank goodness you write about finance and not grammar. Stick to stocks.

The H in historic is not pronounced in proper English. H is usually a silent consonant, except for cases in which the first syllable is stressed, e.g. history, hospital, etc...

Historic is pronounced 'is-TOR-ic,' and thus requires the preposition 'an' to be grammatically correct.

See this link for more info: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jlawler/aue/a-an.html

It's hard to believe that you didn't feel it necessary to check this out before writing this.

I't hard to believe you didn't feel the need to google this before writng this post.

Hi,

Thanks for the comments. I said that it isn't clear that saying "an historic" is incorrect. But the "h" is not silent:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/historic


Main Entry:
his·tor·ic Listen to the pronunciation of historic
Pronunciation:
\hi-ˈstȯr-ik, -ˈstär-\
Function:
adjective
Date:
1594

: historical : as a: famous or important in history b: having great and lasting importance c: known or established in the past d: dating from or preserved from a past time or culture

Ha ha.....Nice try, Zac, but you can't weasel out of this one....

Let's try again! Haha:



I did Google this quite a bit before I wrote about it which is why I added the caveat that saying "an historic" is not wrong if you make the h silent -- but the h isn't silent and none of the dictionary forms use "an historic." They all say "a historic."

:)

Zac

Main Entry:
his·tor·ic Listen to the pronunciation of historic
Pronunciation:
\hi-ˈstȯr-ik, -ˈstär-\
Function:
adjective
Date:
1594

: historical : as a: famous or important in history b: having great and lasting importance c: known or established in the past d: dating from or preserved from a past time or culture

It's a simple test. When you remove the adjective from the noun does it stand alone.
Example: Is it 'a day' or 'an day'? Of course, it's 'a day'. It doesn't matter if the freaking 'h' in 'historic' is silent.

@M Ray

Um, you can't just remove the adjective from the noun in this case.

You can't say "a orange house," or "a ancient nation," or "a immeasurable distance," or "an silly erudite" or "an big idiot," though it appears you might be the latter.

Go back to school.

So M-Ray,

If we use your logic, then it should be"

a esoteric theory instead of an esoteric theory.

or

a ascetic virtue and not an ascetic virtue?

Zac,

Sorry for the tough time, but MW merely gives the currently accepted colloquial pronunciations - which is not generally accepted as proper English, per se.

The etymology of the word holds to the article on the UMich page. If you look to sources which accept colloquial revisions to the English Language (which I believe is a living, breathing thing) then you must grant acceptance to 'an historic' as a phrase.

In other words, I'll see your MW and raise you an Oxford: http://www.askoxford.com/worldofwords/wordfrom/aitches/?view=uk

"Occasionally, an is also used before words where the first syllable is unstressed (an heroic effort, an historic moment), but it is not incorrect to write a heroic effort or a historic moment."

Note the construction of the Oxford quote suggests that the correct composition is "an historic moment" though "a historic moment" is not incorrect.

Bottom line - both are correct.

Zac,

I had a whole reply typed out, but it was lost! The horror.

In any case, both are correct; but to prove my point I'll see your MW and raise you an Oxford:

http://www.askoxford.com/worldofwords/wordfrom/aitches/?view=uk

"Occasionally, an is also used before words where the first syllable is unstressed (an heroic effort, an historic moment), but it is not incorrect to write a heroic effort or a historic moment."

Note the composition of the quote from Oxford suggests that "an historic moment" is the correct construction, but "a historic moment" is not incorrect.

I've been complaining about grammatical errors by "reporters" for years. Most people in the general public hear the way the speak, or see the way the write and think it's correct. It's about time the "media" went back to English class!

DelSpam: This case/test is for a word following a/an that begins with a soft consonant not the entire english language. Of course words beginning with a hard consonant should use 'a' instead of 'an'. Go back to charm school, it didn't take.

In addition to the comments above, the new president does not use a verbal noun when he should. I.E. He should say " my telling", or "my doing" ,. The use of a verbal noun in lieu of me a pronoun.