The Grammar Thread

[Flemingovia]

A historic day?


Aaaaaargh. the bad grammar hurts my eyeballs. I must edit the topic title.


My gift to you is a grammar lesson: Words like "Historic" take "an" as the indefinite article, not "A."

 

[mcmasterdonia]

Google Grammar does not agree with you!

 

[Flemingovia]

Google was created and is maintained by Americans. I rest my case.

 

[Piscivore]

Google was created and is maintained by Americans. I rest my case.

I'm an American and I agree it should be "An"

 

[St George]

An history.

A unique.

English is weird.

 

[Flemingovia]

It is because the article changes according to the sound, not the actual letter. Usually, AEIOU are vowel sounds and the rest are consonants. But not always.

 

[Nebula]

*twitches at the grammar*

 

[Nebula]

*twitches at the grammar*

 

[SillyString]

It is because the article changes according to the sound, not the actual letter. Usually, AEIOU are vowel sounds and the rest are consonants. But not always.

Right, and that's why it's "a history", like "a hieroglyph", because history begins with a consonant sound, and not a vowel.

 

[Lennart]

It is because the article changes according to the sound, not the actual letter. Usually, AEIOU are vowel sounds and the rest are consonants. But not always.

I've got a bit of a problem here. I live in Suffolk, and people seem to ignore 100% of the h's round here. Should I use "an" everytime I'm about to find an h or should I move to another place in order to learn English?

 

[Yrkidding]

I'm thinking that's the root of it, "An 'istoric Day" sounds correct, but "A Historic Day" sounds correct as well.

 

[Great Bights Mum]

Either way works for me. No one missed the meaning, did they?