Comments on: “A Historic” or “An Historic” Event?

By: KME

KME — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 18:44:04 +0000

If “an historic” is a grammatical error, it’s the odd error that actually makes its user sound better educated. I think the original post had the right idea: it’s an idiom and we shouldn’t be too concerned with its nonconformity. Perhaps the reason “an historic event” persists is because it seems a particularly fitting nod to the meaning of history.

By: The Ceej

The Ceej — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 03:54:02 +0000

When I hear newscasters use the phrase, “an historic,” I say to them through the television, as if they could hear me, “You must have an grammar problem. You must have never graduated from an school. How did you get an show on television?”

Well, do I have an point?

By: Leigh

Leigh — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 01:19:46 +0000

I don’t know why people have just, out of the blue, started saying, “An Istoric…” since there is no such word as “istoric”. It’s not like the word ‘honest’, which begins with an O sound. History, Hispanic and Historic all begin with hard Hs. They always have. Where this started, I don’t know. It seems as if bad grammar has become correct grammar. Imagine if someone pronounced ‘hand’ as ‘and’, and said “an hand.” That’s how bad it sounds when someone says, “An istorical…”

By: Maeve

Maeve — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 14:03:21 +0000

jeannine,
H.W.Fowler (Modern English Usage) goes into great detail on the question of the placement of adverbs.
The short version of what he says about the position of an adverb in a compound verb (a verb with one or more auxiliary verbs such as “have”):

“When an adverb is to be used with such a verb, its normal place is between the auxiliary (or sometimes the first auxiliary if there are two or more) and the rest.”

Ergo, nothing wrong with writing “Haphazard immigration policies have historically resulted in…”

By: jeannine

jeannine — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 12:47:41 +0000

Would appreciate an opinion on the use of the word “historically” as I can not find any information related to its proper use in The Elements of Style or my AP Stylebook. Most people tend to use this word in a split-infinitive manner (i.e., “has historically resulted…”, “that have historically used…”) and I would like to edit this with confidence. Any thoughts?