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I've seen both used, with "as" used more frequently, but it sounds wrong to my ears.

The federal government has proclaimed January 8 National Ice Cream Day.

or

The federal government has proclaimed January 8 as National Ice Cream Day.

Are both acceptable, is one more acceptable than the other, or is one incorrect?

Thanks in advance!

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    This works like elect, appoint, designate, etc. to specify a role or title to one argument. I've called these 3-place predicates, but they're not transfer predicates like send, give, bring, or the like. They may just be a special construction with an extra NP after the object.
    – John Lawler
    Commented Oct 25, 2023 at 18:03
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    Google ngrams would indicate that while 'proclaim X as king' is not unknown, it is far rarer than the factitive usage. Ditto named him president / as president.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Oct 25, 2023 at 18:41

1 Answer 1

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According to Huddeston & Pullum (2002), proclaim can be used with or without the as (pp. 265, 279-280). To me, at least, both versions sound fine.

The only exception is when proclaim is followed by an infinitival verb phrase; in that case the as is forbidden, as shown by the fact that "He proclaimed them to be excellent" is correct but "He proclaimed them as to be excellent" is not.

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  • To expand on the second paragraph, "proclaimed them [as] excellent" seems OK as well -- the infinitival phrase may not be necessary in the first place.
    – Barmar
    Commented Oct 25, 2023 at 20:12
  • Now they are stylists, too?
    – Lambie
    Commented Oct 25, 2023 at 20:25

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