I don't care which party you're affiliated with or who you voted for, you have to admit, there is just something so awe inspiring about witnessing such a(n)* historic event.
*I know you use "an" when preceding a word that begins with a vowel or a vowel sound, but I never know how to use it with words like "historic". Any English majors/grammer gurus to help me out on this one?
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
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4 comments:
An is correct before words like historic...just because I said so, is reason enough.
I would have to agree with your dad on that one.
While Strunk & White do recognize "my dad says so" as valid grammatical justification, in the absence of such authority it's more like this:
Traditionally, "an" is used before words that begin with "h". This may be a holdover from earlier forms of English, but is still considered "correct" by many. However, in modern usage, especially informal, "a" before an h-word is more common, if not already standard. I expect over the next few decades the "an" usage will become less and less "correct" (except for h-words that begin with vowel sounds, e.g., honor and hour).
Bottom line: Either is fine, but "a" sounds less stuffy and is probably more appropriate in the context of a blog.
Hope that helps.
Derek is smarter than Conlan.
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