The word year when pronounced starts with a phonetic sound of e which is a vowel sound making it eligible for being preceded by an. Yet, we tend to write a year. Why?

Understanding the Context

I recommend "in the year 1908" then. It's hard to argue in any case that the year belonged to or derived from "1908", which would warrant the use of the word "of". AKA "Freud is a visitor at James's Sussex residence, Lamb House, in the land of ZOMBIES" would properly imply that the land was owned by or populated by zombies. prepositions - "in the year 1908" or "in the year of 1908" - English ...

Key Insights

the coldest month of the year the coldest month in the year To my ears 'the coldest month of the year' sounds more natural than 'the coldest month in the year'. Is there a difference in meaning and... Is it wrong when people say "from this year" instead of "starting this year"? [closed] Ask Question Asked 3 years, 8 months ago Modified 3 years, 8 months ago grammar - Is it wrong when people say "from this year" instead of ... The comparison with "the second year and the last year" supports plural rather than singular.

Final Thoughts

In that "full" version, each occurrence of the word year clearly relates to a single year. A great many style guides address the question of whether or not to separate the month and year with a comma in phrases of the type "January[,] 2018"—and yet, to my surprise, a search of English La... commas - Is “month year” or “month, year” the more common form of ...