The way to write the date depends on the context and location, but the two most common formats are:
- In American English: Write the date as Month Day, Year (e.g., October 5, 2023). Use commas after the day and year, especially in formal writing.
- In British English: Write the date as Day Month Year (e.g., 5 October 2023) without commas.
For formal writing, spell out the month instead of abbreviations or using purely numeric forms. You can also use ordinal numbers for the day (e.g., 5th October 2023 or the 5th of October 2023) in British English, though this is less common in American English. Numerical date formats vary by region but often use slashes, hyphens, or periods as separators (e.g., 10/05/2023 in the U.S. means October 5, while in the U.K. 05/10/2023 means the same). In official documents, write the date in full to avoid confusion, and in formal letters place the date aligned top left or right, usually below the sender's address. Summary of common date-writing styles:
Style| Format Example| Notes
---|---|---
American English| October 5, 2023| Month Day, Year with commas
British English| 5 October 2023| Day Month Year without commas
Numeric (U.S.)| 10/05/2023| Month/Day/Year
Numeric (U.K.)| 05/10/2023| Day/Month/Year
International (ISO)| 2023-10-05| Year-Month-Day standard
Use consistent format within your document and consider your audience's location to avoid misinterpretation.
