Talk:Seaboard Coastline Building

Latest comment: 9 years ago by TheEcumenicalTheologicalSeminary in topic A historic is more common in both American and British English.

A historic is more common in both American and British English. edit

As a relatively new member and editor of Wikipedia, I have been visiting various pages and analyzing for minor changes such as spelling and grammar. On this particular page, I noticed the use of 'a historic' in the sentence; "Seaboard Coastline Building, also known as Old City Hall, is a historic train station located at Portsmouth, Virginia." Upon further investigation, I discovered the following; "A historic is more common in both American and British English, but both usages are sufficiently common to be considered correct. A well known grammar rule says that we should use an before vowel sounds; for example, an accident, an item, an hour. We use a otherwise: a book, a hotel, a university. Notice that we say an hour, not a hour. The choice of a or an is based upon the sound of the word, not the spelling. Hour sounds as if it starts with a vowel sound (ow); hence, we use an. Following this rule, we would say a historic, not an historic because (for most speakers) historic doesn't start with a vowel sound."

Therefore, the use of 'a historic' should remain in tact.

Dr. Damian Stone. The Ecumenical Theological Seminary.--TheEcumenicalTheologicalSeminary (talk) 23:07, 15 March 2015 (UTC)Reply