Writing the Date

There are several different ways to write the date in English. They vary from formal to informal, and there are differences between British and American English. The following table shows some typical formats.

Format	British: Day-Month-Year	American: Month-Day-Year
A	the Fourteenth of March, 1999	March the Fourteenth, 1999
B	14th March 1999	March 14th, 1999
C	14 March 1999	March 14, 1999
D	14/3/1999	3/14/1999
E	14/3/99	3/14/99
F	14/03/99	03/14/99

Note: which format to use is a question of formality, politeness and personal choice. Generally, the longer formats, such as B or C, are more polite (since they show more respect for the reader). Shorter formats, such as D or E, are used in less formal situations, for example a memo, a letter between friends or an impersonal business letter. Format F is rather official and is typically seen on an invoice or an official or technical document. Format A is extremely formal and mainly used on printed items, for example a wedding invitation. The numerical formats may use a full stop (.) or hyphen (-) instead of a slash (/), for example: 14.3.1999 or 03-14-99

Note that another format exists which writes the date numerically in the order Year-Month-Day, for example: 1999/03/14. This is rare in British or American English and used mainly in very official or technical documents.

 

Months
Number	Name	Abbreviations
1	January	Jan	J
2	February	Feb	F
3	March	Mar	M
4	April	Apr	A
5	May	May	M
6	June	Jun	J
7	July	Jul	J
8	August	Aug	A
9	September	Sep	S
10	October	Oct	O
11	November	Nov	N
12	December	Dec	D

 

In English, months are correctly written with an initial capital: January, February...

 

Days of the Month
1st	first
2nd	second
3rd	third
4th	fourth
5th	fifth
6th	sixth
7th	seventh
8th	eighth
9th	ninth
10th	tenth
11th	eleventh
12th	twelfth
13th	thirteenth
14th	fourteenth
15th	fifteenth
16th	sixteenth
17th	seventeenth
18th	eighteenth
19th	nineteenth
20th	twentieth
21st	twenty-first
22nd	twenty-second
23rd	twenty-third
24th	twenty-fourth
25th	twenty-fifth
26th	twenty-sixth
27th	twenty-seventh
28th	twenty-eighth
29th	twenty-ninth
30th	thirtieth
31st	thirty-first