Dates
I. RULES
British English: 5th Oct 2013 American English: Oct 5th, 2013
The day usually appears before the month. The month usually appears before the day.
The year is not usually separated from the The year is often separated from the rest of
rest of the date the date with a comma (,)
When we read the date, we use the definite When we read the date, we can say ‘the’
article ‘the’ before the day and the preposition before the day if we want
‘of’ before the month
British English American English
5/10/1975 10/5/1975
5th (of) October 1975 October (the) 5th, 1975
the fifth of October, nineteen seventy five October (the) fifth, nineteen seventy five
II. EXAMPLES
BRITISH ENGLISH AMERICAN ENGLISH
12/2/2010 2/20/2014
12th of February 2010 February (the)20th, 2014
Twelfth of February, two-thousand and ten. February (the) twentieth, two thousand and
7/4/2008 fourteen
7th of April 2008 1/10/2010
Seventh of April, two-thousand and eight. January (the) 10th, 2010
20/2/2014 January (the) tenth, two thousand and ten
20th of February 2014 9/16/2004
Twentieth of February, two thousand and fourteen September (the)16th, 2004
September (the) sixteenth, two thousand and four
III. HOW TO READ YEARS
The common rule is to read four-digit years as a pair of 2-digit numbers.
1492 – “fourteen ninety-two”/ 1974 – nineteen, seventy-four
If the tens’ digit is zero, you must read that zero as “oh”.
1908 – “nineteen oh eight”/ 1106 – “eleven oh six”
If the last two digits are zero, you must read the two zeros as ‘hundred’
1200 – “twelve hundred/ 1900 – thirteen hundred”/ 600 – “six hundred”
If the last two digits are zero, you must read the three zeros as ‘thousand’
1000 – “one thousand”/ 2000- “two thousand”
Three-digit numbers can be read following the common rule or as a normal number.
433 – “four hundred and thirty-three”/ 432 – “four thirty-two”
Dates in the 21st century can be read following the common rule or as ‘two thousand and…’
2007 – “two thousand and seven” / “twenty oh seven”
2012 – “two thousand and twelve” / “twenty twelve”
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