a/an historic event

[Dr. Jamshid Ibrahim]

a/an historic event
The word historic takes the indefinite article a/an depending upon its pronunciation. I personally use a historic because I believe an historic:
1. Is old fashioned and might sound a bit haughty because it reflects the French pronunciation.
2. But maybe there are other reasons such as emphasis or smoother pronunciation of the word in text. Ideas are welcome

[Casiopea]

You can add phonetic reasons: aspirated [h] and syllable stress.

an historic

historic, historical. The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993

Content Frame

"A historic" or "an historic"?

English Grammar: ENGLISH GRAMMAR: TOP ENGLISH GRAMMAR QUESTIONS - ANSWER PAGE FOR Is it correct to use a and an interchangeably in the following sentence? That is a/an historic part of town. If not, which would be the correct determiner?

[bianca]

I have actually never once encountered "an historic" in any context. This is news to me, but I'd still go for "a historic". Flows better.

bianca

[Dr. Jamshid Ibrahim]

Originally Posted by Casiopea

You can add phonetic reasons: aspirated [h] and syllable stress.

an historic

historic, historical. The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993

Content Frame

"A historic" or "an historic"?

English Grammar: ENGLISH GRAMMAR: TOP ENGLISH GRAMMAR QUESTIONS - ANSWER PAGE FOR Is it correct to use a and an interchangeably in the following sentence? That is a/an historic part of town. If not, which would be the correct determiner?

Yes Casiopea I already mentioned phonetic and stress reasons or do you mean dialectal differences? Which one do you personally prefer? generally speaking an historic would violate the English system now because it is old fashioned. Shall we call it outdated?

[Tdol]

I like the old-fashioned an 'istoric, but an historic drives me to distraction.

[Dr. Jamshid Ibrahim]

Originally Posted by Tdol

I like the old-fashioned an 'istoric, but an historic drives me to distraction.

This is a straight forward answer Richard.