Question:
As English is not my first language, at times, I have difficulty
with fine points of English grammar. However, lurking here, I often admire
fine English prose of others, who post messages here.
To improve my own English grammar, I'd like an answer (or is it a answer ?)
to this question:
What is proper: A historic event (like some politicians and newsmen use), or
AN historic event (as I understood it from a grammar book) ?; A apple, or
AN apple; ''A account, or ''AN account '' ?
Answer:
If you are going to write English, then you should
employ universally accepted grammatical
rules. AN is used before historic. How someone
pronounces the "h" is of no consequence when
dealing with the written word, unless you are
writing dialogue or quoting someone word for
word. As far as the spoken word, the rules
sometimes become flexible due to evolving
regional dialects. Some of the
worst examples of people who use proper
grammar are politicians, who are frequently pork-brains;
followed by the often pitiful "newsmen/newscasters."
Typical newspeak idiocy: "Pilot crashes his plane
into barn full of rabid goats at eleven" -- which
grammatically suggests that the event took place or
will later take place when the local time was or will
be either 11 AM or 11 PM. What they need to say is:
"At eleven PM, we will tell you about a pilot who crashed
his plane into a barn filled with rabid goats."
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