I know you can use "an" before words that start with an "h" where the "h" is silent, but is history an exception? I don't think the "h" is silent but its pretty quiet when I pronounce history.
it's "a" .. I have no evidence, but there's no way it can be "an".. (though I understand what you're saying) edit: the easy reasoning for me, if you need something, is that "an history" is either difficult to pronounce OR forces you to make the "h" *completely* silent.. and both of those things are 100% wrong (the "a" "an" thing should make it easier to pronounce)
I thought you use an if the next word starts with a vowel. That is A car. That is AN elephant. A history about a man named Michael. AN history about a man named Michael. <-- sounds fail to me.
Some people say that if the h sounds silent and the next letter is a vowel, then u can use 'an'. But the h in history doesn't sound silent. That is an honor.
What's the first pronounced sound, not LETTER, of the word? Then that's what you base it on. A U.S. Embassy. "Y" sound of "u". An undergarment. short "u" of "u". A man, a plan, a canal, Panama. <- all words with CONSONANT sounds. A history book. "H" the "h" as in you're exhaling the H. A hernia. same as above. An HOUR. See? The H makes no "h" sound. "An historic" event is used by SILLY TV peeps who don't want to say "A [long A sound] historic event", and don't pronounce the H. The "H" is the first sound of the word "history", not the short "I" sound. "A HISTORY" is correct.
I recently asked my brother, a copy editor at a major newspaper, this same question. Here was his response: From the 1992 Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual: a, an Use the article a before consonant sounds: a historic event, a one-year term (sounds as if it begins with a w), a united stand (sounds like you). Use the article an before vowel sounds: an energy crisis, an honorable man (the h is silent), an NBA record (sounds like it begins with the letter e), an 1890s celebration. It was driving me nuts during election coverage to hear people saying "an historic" so I had to make sure I was right and they were wrong...
I'm blown away. I was reading something early and I noticed someone wrote "a history" when I've seen a bunch of stuff lately with "an history." Anyway, I wondered what it's supposed to be. "An history" always seemed weird to me. The weird thing is that I seriously thought about starting a thread to see what everyone else thought. That was today. I'm amazed that someone started the fairly random thread on a day that I really considered the same question. I'm sure that it's just weird for me, but I had to say something.
I think some might, in televised speech, avoid saying "a historic" / "a historical" in order to avoid confusion with "ahistoric " / "ahistorical." In this instance, "an" might be technically incorrect, but ensures listener comprehension.
I fail at this all the times because I can't figure out which sound any letter (i.e. U or H) is. So I just write "an" for all vowels unless I'm writing in a Word document. Hard to figure that out if I try to lipread the words as well. Thanks for the lesson!
Next lesson we need to differentiate between your you're and there their they're and in the saddest case he's his
What Swoly said. I'll add, I think it depends on the speaker. I knew a Cajun kid who made his H's very silent. Human was 'uman, history was 'istory, humble was 'umble (the town is always 'umble, of course). Not using 'an' before these words would sound straight-up weird.
