Recently, a news anchor person started a sentence with “An historical event occurred today…” I was taught that this should be “A historic event” because “h” is a consonant, and in this case, not silent. (Conversely, you should use “an” before a word starting with a vowel sound.)
Since then, I’ve heard many other people (mostly on TV/radio) using this form.
Which is correct?
Well, this is a bit vague, however, my understanding is that “hard” H’s get A and “soft” H’s get AN.
Eg:
I went into a hardwear store.
vs.
It was an honest mistake.
Thats how I learned the rule, but others may beg to differ.
I saw a legal notice that said “having an usual place of business…”. It was “an” before a vowel, but it sure sounded funny.
As I understand it “an” is used before historical in england. I seem to remember a rant about how awfull “a historical” sounds on a message board (the poster was British) It was pointed out, however, that the queen mum has been know to say “a historical” I believe the rational for “an historical” is that the h is “soft” Possibly Americaninzed English speakers pronound the “h” on historical more prominantly?
I agree with alice_in_wonderland. I was taught this way of pronunciation. And I have noticed most people usually stick to it. Hard H = ‘a’, soft H = ‘an’
In the case of the word historical (indeed, other cases also) it would depend how you pronounce the a.
I went to AHH historical building - sounds totally wrong to me
or
I went to AYE historical building. - still sounds wrong to me, but not as bad.
I personally would use an (I’m british/canadian educated) in this case.
There is another word I usually regularly, which I cannot for the life of me think of that doesn’t start with a vowel or an H but I put “an” before it… it just doesn’t sound right otherwise.
Clarification:
Yes. This seems to be more to do with the “hard” vs. the “soft” sound than with the letter involved.
as in “a usual” vs. “an usual” --> I think this is “a usual” because of the long “u” being pronounced like a “y”
I know how I’d say it, I just don’t know the official rules.
[nitpick]
It’s unlikely “an historical event” happened anywhere. An historic event, but not historical.
When Nixon resigned, it was an historic event, not an historical one.
[/nitpick]
Thanks BobT. That was my mistake - not Dan Rather’s. But, don’t you mean “a historic event?” 
Noooooooooooooo! It’s baaaaaack.
We had real long discussion of this a couple of months ago.
Not exactly; Nixon’s resignation was an historic event at the time; now it is also an historical event.
From Merrian-Webster’s:
his·tor·ic. adjective
Pronunciation: hi-'stor-ik, -'stär-
: HISTORICAL: as a : famous or important in history <historic battlefields> b : having great and lasting importance <an historic occasion> c : known or established in the past <historic interest rates> d : dating from or preserved from a past time or culture <historic buildings> <historic artifacts>
his·tor·i·cal. adjective
1 a : of, relating to, or having the character of history b : based on history c : used in the past and reproduced in historical presentations
2 : famous in history : HISTORIC a
3 a : SECONDARY 1c b : DIACHRONIC <historical grammar>
Note that MW says “an historic occasion.”
The reason that “historic” and “historical” take “an” rather than “a” is that they are stressed on the second syllable. In contrast, “history” is stressed on the first syllable and takes “a”.
The rule is that, if a word begins with a vowel sound (or an unstressed h) it takes “an;” if it begins with a consonant sound, it takes “a,” regardless of the actual letter involved:
an unusual event
a usual occurrence
a one-year absence
It only feels like a couple of months. The last time was about 30 days ago.
Another reason that I think it is becoming common is that newspapers use a spell checker in editing. That program has no clue to how the “h” is pronounced and so it puts “an” before all words starting with “h”. Damn computers I don’t trust them gadgets!
Naturally this brings up an appropriate Monty Python bit, the Eric the Half a Bee sketch
Guy 1: a 'alibut
Guy 2: a what?
Guy 1: (enunciating carefully) An halibut
Getting it wrong both ways AFAIK