S. Worthen (owlfish) wrote,
S. Worthen
owlfish

For want of an indefinite historical article

Dear People raised in the UK or Canada, and other people who like filling out polls:
Poll #1679508
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All. Participants: 91

Which of the following would you normally use?

View Answers
an historian
30(33.0%)
a historian
61(67.0%)

Which of the following would you normally use?

View Answers
an historical figure
34(37.4%)
a historical figure
57(62.6%)


Languages are challenging, not least because they keep changing. "an historian" and "an historical figure" were some of the British grammatical quirks I got down early.

Only now, the internet tells me, times, they are a changin'. It's okay to use "a" instead of "an" for histor* words in British Englishes. I would like some more evidence on the subject one way or the other.
Tags: language, polls, two sides of one ocean
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  • 61 comments

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