AN heroic

GM Fright · Officer Joined: 01 May 2008 Posts: 2698

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/591/1/
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/540/01/

Purdue Grammar People wrote:

In some cases where "h" is pronounced, such as "historical," you can use an.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_articles

Wikipedia wrote:

The article "an" is sometimes seen in such phrases as "an historic", "an heroic" and "an hotel of excellence" in both British and American usage...Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage allows "both a and an are used in writing a historic an historic".

http://stlouiscatholic.blogspot.com/2008/09/heroic-father.html
"An Heroic Father"

Wordinfo wrote:

Before "h" in an unstressed or weakly stressed syllable, "a" and "an" are both used in writing (an historic, a historic) but an is more usual in speech, whether the "h" is pronounced or not. This variation exists as a result of historical development; in unstressed and weakly stressed syllables, "h" was formerly not pronounced in many words as it is currently pronounced by many people. A few words; such as, historic and (especially in England) hotel, are in transition, and may be found with either a or an. Apparently, people may now choose the article that suits their personal pronunciation preferences with several h words.

Occasionally in modern writing and speech and regularly in the King James Version of the Bible, an is used before "h" in a stressed syllable, as in an hundred. Again, we have the same historical change: many more words were pronounced with a silent initial "h" in the past than are in the present. A few words; such as, heir, hour, and honest, generally have silent "h"; some others, like herb or humble are pronounced both ways. Use a or an according to your personal pronunciation preferences.

http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/629/a-historic-or-an-historic

Grammar website wrote:

In certain accents, history, hotel, etc. are pronounced with an h sound. In those accents, a should be used. In other accents, such as my own, it is pronounced without an h sound, and therefore starts with a vowel. In that accent, it would be correct for one to say an.

Queen Elizabeth II is one such person who could correctly say an historic event. President Obama is one such person who could correctly say a historic event.

In writing, it doesn't really matter which one is used.

Call yourself correct all you like, but stop calling me wrong.