Date
Format
Dates should follow the American format: month–day–year. The month should be written using letters, while the day and year should be written numerically.
Examples
Correct: April 14, 2000
Incorrect: 14 April 2000, 04/14/2000
Punctuation
Use a comma between the day and the year. If the date is in the middle of a sentence, use a comma after the year.
Examples
Correct: Their concert is on August 23, 2022, at Madison Square Garden.
Incorrect: Their concert is on August 23 2022 at Madison Square Garden.
Do not use a comma for only a month and a year.
Examples
Correct: Their concert is scheduled for August 2022.
Incorrect: Their concert is scheduled for August, 2022.
Ordinals
Do not use ordinals (numbers which end in st, nd, rd, or th and define a thing's position in an ordering) in dates.
Examples
Correct: The spaceship landed on June 2, 2058.
Incorrect: The spaceship landed on June 2nd, 2058.
Months
Capitalize the names of months and do not abbreviate them.
Examples
Correct: February, April
Incorrect: Feb, Apr, Feb., Apr.
Do not use periods in dates.
Years
Do not spell out years in words even if they begin a sentence.
Examples
Correct: 1956 is the year I was born.
Incorrect: Nineteen fifty-six is the year I was born.
Decades
Do not spell out decades in words. Decades from the 20th century may be abbreviated to their last two digits.
Examples
Correct: During the '50s and '60s, many people preferred jazz.
During the 1950s and 1960s, many people preferred jazz.
Incorrect: During the fifties and sixties, many people preferred jazz.
Apostrophe
When writing decades, do not use an apostrophe between the number and s.
Examples
Correct: 1980s
Incorrect: 1980's
When you choose to abbreviate a 20th-century decade, use an apostrophe before the first digit.
Examples
Correct: '80s
Incorrect: 80s
While you are free to choose between the full and abbreviated version for 20th-century decades, you should maintain consistency within each sentence.
Examples
Correct: In the '50s, she rose to fame, but in the '60s, her sister overtook her.
Incorrect: In the 1950s, she rose to fame, but in the '60s, her sister overtook her.
Centuries
Do not capitalize the names of centuries. Names of centuries should be written as an ordinal followed by the word century. For the first through ninth centuries, the ordinal should be spelt out in letters; for the 10th century onward, it should be written using digits.
Examples
Correct: eighth century, 20th century
Incorrect: 8th century, twentieth century
When used as nouns, both decades and centuries should be preceded by the definite article, the. This is generally not the case when they are used as adjectives.
Examples
Correct: The 1980s are my favorite decade of the 20th century.
Out of all 20th-century music, '70s rock is my favorite.
Incorrect: 1980s are my favorite decade of 20th century.
Out of all 20th century music, the '70s rock is my favorite.
See also
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