Why do people often say "an" before the word "historic"? Isn't it only supposed to be used, when followed by a vowel?
by 
Anti-Semantic - Quaerens Intellectum
ANSWERS: 5
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I was always taught at school an was only before a vowel, but have noticed it is often used nowadays before a word begining with H, so I asked an English teacher and she said either a or an is acceptable, though I still stick to the way I was taught.
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I think "an" is used to prevent running two vowel sounds together, which could result in an altogether different sound of the combined vowels. Since it was common to say many (English) words that start with the letter H without pronouncing the /H/ sound, and since an initial H is always followed by a vowel (in English), it helped to use "an" instead of "a" when the indefinite article was needed before such words.
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An goes before vowel sounds, which don't always actually begin with a vowel. Another common example would be "an hour."
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I think it depends on where you are and how you pronounce words beginning with the letter "H" - most of us in the midwest pronounce the word history with the "H" sound, so we use the word "a" before it. If you eliminate the "H" sound, it sounds as though the word begins with a vowel and, therefore, it is appropriate to use the word "an" before it.
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Because people are utterly stupid
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