Hi, I heard like four people today say, "an history." Isn't that grammatically incorrect? Shouldn't it be "a history"? After all, history doesn't start with a vowel, nor does it begin with a vowel sound (i.e. "hour" which is "an hour" instead of "a hour" because "hour" is pronounced like "our" [silent h]). What's going on??? Am I going crazy or are they all wrong?
2007-02-27 16:00:33 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
oh man, this same question plagued me for a long time. if you pay attention when you are reading, you'll notice it is sometimes printed "an history" as well. i did a lot of research a few months back, and what i gathered was that either is generally acceptable, but "a history" is grammatically correct. i think the reason for "an history" is that when some people say history, they don't fully aspirate the h, making it sound somewhere between a silent and a full-blown h, in which case an does sound better.
2007-02-27 16:18:19 · answer #1 · answered by drholyroller 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think it's "A History". Sometimes h is silent, so the vowel gets emphasized, so you have "an hour.' But the "h" in history is certainly not silent. So it's just "a history." The people who told you it was "an history" are wrong.
2007-02-28 00:08:19 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I have heard educated people say "an historical" but not "an history".
I have also heard "an habitual" and "an hospitable" and "an horrendous".
Also "an hotel" is acceptable too.
'an' can be used before a word starting with a sounded 'h' if the first syllable it not stressed. I think you may be mistaken about "an history", you probably mean "an historical". In the word "history" the first syllable is stressed, but in the word "hotel" the second syllable is stressed.
.
2007-02-28 00:10:37 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
An history is grammatically incorrect, A history is.
When you say historic, do you go An historic landmark or A historic landmark.
Both an and a can be used but under different circumstances, but saying An history is wrong,
There are ways in using an but i wont go there,
2007-02-28 00:09:00 · answer #4 · answered by ~WereWo|f~ 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hey, they are all wrong..it is a history because history starts with an h and not a vowel..u r right
2007-02-28 00:04:36 · answer #5 · answered by heather h 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
a history,No, you are not crazy, sounds like a few people didn't pay attention in grammar class.
2007-02-28 00:06:04 · answer #6 · answered by ruth4526 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
depends on your accent. If you are british and you pronounce it "istery" you'd use "an," just like with "an hour"
It's a regional thing.
2007-02-28 00:09:44 · answer #7 · answered by sspade30 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋