User:Maurreen/American formats for dates

Practices vary, but the American standard for writing dates is in the form of "May 3, 1987".

Setting off the year with paired punctuation

Setting off the year with a comma in front and a comma or other appropriate punctuation following is supported by a great majority of references on American English.

Journalism Professor Deborah Gump says, "I have found that it helps students remember the second comma if they think of the year after a date as an appositive, and when you open the gate to an appositive with a comma, you have to remember to close the gate with an appropriate punctuation mark."

Anyone who thinks the second comma is unnecessary has evidently never dealt with a sentence like

  On June 6, 1944 soldiers landed on the beaches of Normandy.

Dates as modifiers

Most references make no distinction concerning dates as modifiers. A few do give examples using dates as modifiers.

The style guide of the federal government gives this example: "This was reflected in the June 13, 1959, report."

But adherents to Bryan Garner's Modern American Usage omit the second comma for dates used as modifiers, following the argument that the comma is not required syntactically and it marks a nonexistent pause.

• • • Reportedly at p. 222 under dates, part C. ***

Abbreviating the months

Months that have five letters or fewer are usually not abbreviated. Months that are abbreviated are usually written with three letters and a period. The standard exception is the abbreviation for September, which is "Sept."

But the standard of the U.S. military is to write all months with three letters and no period.

Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec

Order

The most common sequence of the date elements is to start with the month and end with the year. Starting with the day of the month is the preference of the Chicago Manual of Style and standard in the military.

All-numeric formats

According to the Chicago Manual of Style, all-numeric formats have no place in formal writing.

But when these forms are used, the American practice is to start the expression with the month and end it with the year. Slashes are most often used to separate the elements, but dashes are also used. As of 2005, periods are used infrequently but increasingly.

The expression "9/11" (pronounced "nine-eleven") has become shorthand to represent the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. It was added to the Associated Press stylebook by 2005.

This expression should not be confused with "911", which is the U.S. phone number used to report emergencies. It is pronounced as either "nine-eleven" or "nine-one-one".

Sources

Books:

• AP stylebook (The one I have handy at the moment is from 2002), page 166, under "months," second paragraph: "When a phrase lists only a month and a year, do not separate the year with commas. When a phrase refers to a month, day and year, set off the year with commas."

• New York Times stylebook (1999), under "dates," page 101, first paragraph: "When day, month and year are given together, use a comma after the day, and use a comma or some other punctuation after the year: "He said he left Ho Ho Kus on April 16, 1995, to return to Burkina Faso."

• Webster's New World College Dictionary, fourth edition (2001), page 1673,"comma" section: "A comma is ordinarily used: … 5. To set off the main elements in an address; a title following a person's name; and the year if the month, day, and year are given. … The letter was dated July 14, 1987, and was mailed from Paris."

• [U.S. Government Printing Office Style Manual], 2000, 29th edition, Section 8.49, retrieved January 10, 2005

• "Working with Words: A Handbook for Media Writers and Editors," by Brian S. Brooks, James L. Pinson, and Jean Gaddy Wilson (2003, published by Bedford/St. Martin's), page 164, second point under "Always Use a Comma": "Use a comma before and after the abbreviation for a state following a city, and before and after a year following a month and date: … On May 2, 2002, the two giants in the field met."

Other:

• [Explanation] by Deborah Gump, at the discussion board of the American Copy Editors Society. Gump is the Knight professor of news editing at the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University.