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HMLithman Posted 20 years ago
Grammar
Historic Historical
Historic and historical.
In strict usage, historic describes an event of importance – one that shaped history or is likely to do so.
Historical merely describes something that happened in the past.
Standard: The president made a(n) historic announcement.
(The announcement was of historical importance.)
Non-standard: The office kept an archive of historic records.
(The records are not necessarily of historical importance – they are simply records from the past.)
The question is should it be 'an' historic/al or 'a' historic/al?
In strict usage, historic describes an event of importance – one that shaped history or is likely to do so.
Historical merely describes something that happened in the past.
Standard: The president made a(n) historic announcement.
(The announcement was of historical importance.)
Non-standard: The office kept an archive of historic records.
(The records are not necessarily of historical importance – they are simply records from the past.)
The question is should it be 'an' historic/al or 'a' historic/al?
Top answer
In the case of unstressed initial syllables, either is possible; it depends on the speaker: A/an historical meeting A/an Hawaiian shirt
- In the case of unstressed initial syllables, either is possible; it depends on the speaker: A/an historical meeting A/an Hawaiian shirt
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8 Answers
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In the case of unstressed initial syllables, either is possible; it depends on the speaker:
A/an historical meeting
A/an Hawaiian shirt
A/an historical meeting
A/an Hawaiian shirt
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So it depends on me? Well it means if I do have h-dropping I can use 'an' even in formal writing? 
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HMLithmanSo it depends on me? Well it means if I do have h-dropping I can use 'an' even in formal writing?
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Can I apply this to all words starting in the letter H? (If I'm a h-dropping speaker)
(If I'm a h-dropping speaker)00
Unstressed-h words, not words with silent h (always an) or stressed initial syllables (always a). And not with 'h-dropping speaker' (always an), which starts with a big fat vowel sound ( /aitch/ ).
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Confuzzled : Can u make it more easy to understand along with examples?
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I don't know how to make it easier, HM.
In the case of unstressed initial syllables, either is possible; it depends on the speaker:
A/an historical meeting
A/an Hawaiian shirt
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