Comments on: How to write dates in British and American English

By: Bob

Bob — Thu, 15 Aug 2024 11:21:04 +0000

Putting the year first is part of an international standard, ISO 8601.
It removes any ambiguity in the format.

By: Phil Williams

Phil Williams — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 16:29:29 +0000

There are various ways this might be done, fitting the various formats, but yes you have the right idea that essentially you’re going to need to put a hyphen or dash between the numbers to show a range. You might put a dash at different points to show the full date but I’d say it’s generally going to be clearer and simpler to do it between the numbers rather than repeat the other details.

By: Ellie Rah

Ellie Rah — Thu, 27 Jul 2023 15:11:38 +0000

Hi, would you please advise how to write a range of dates in British English, eg. 02 – 15 September 2023 9am – 5pm. Thank you.

By: Phil Williams

Phil Williams — Thu, 11 May 2023 07:19:25 +0000

In reply to Robert.

Well, it’s not really a question of what the ‘correct’ format is, this post is aimed at highlighting the common conventions. For any publication (or indeed person) it is naturally a matter of preference, and those publications all maintain their own style guides – English is nothing if not adaptable, after all.

By: Robert

Robert — Mon, 08 May 2023 23:18:48 +0000

The Times and the British tabloids (Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, The Sun, Daily Express) and many other people would disagree with you about what can constitute a correct format for dates in England.

By: Phil Williams

Phil Williams — Tue, 07 Mar 2023 15:57:52 +0000

In reply to bery.

You’re welcome, glad to hear it helped!

By: bery

bery — Sat, 04 Mar 2023 07:53:04 +0000

In reply to Estelle.

thank you Sir. this was of great help to me.
Great job.

By: Andyh

Andyh — Tue, 21 Feb 2023 20:58:31 +0000

In reply to Estelle.

Hi Estelle, I’m glad you wrote this, because that is almost the same thing I was taught in school (some moons ago).

20th February, 2023

Was taught that we NEVER write the ‘of’ but it’s inserted in speech.

But we know languages evolve, with time.

Thank you, Mr Williams for this lesson ‘Up’ date.

By: Jason Swan

Jason Swan — Sat, 18 Feb 2023 11:39:47 +0000

YYYY-MM-DD is the ISO standard for dates, but I would not use it in prose. Also, the comma between the day name and date (for example, Saturday, 18 February 2023) is becoming, or already is, optional in British English. I only ever see it done as Saturday 18 February 2023.

By: Amit

Amit — Mon, 15 Mar 2021 09:31:09 +0000

In reply to Phil Williams.

Thank you, Phil, for providing clarity on this.