Expressing Dates in Spoken English
In English outside of North America, full dates are written as 7 December 1941 (or 7th December 1941) and spoken as "the seventh of December, nineteen forty-one" (exceedingly common usage of "the" and "of"), with the occasional usage of December 7, 1941 ("December the seventh, nineteen forty-one"). In common with continental European usage, however, all-numeric dates are invariably ordered dd/mm/yyyy.
In the United States, the usual written form is December 7, 1941, spoken as "December seventh, nineteen forty-one" or colloquially "December the seventh, nineteen forty-one". Ordinal numerals, however, are not always used when writing and pronouncing dates, and "December seven, nineteen forty-one" is also an accepted pronunciation of the date written December 7, 1941. A notable exception to this rule is the Fourth of July (U.S. Independence Day).
Read more about this topic: Month Day, Specialized Usage
Famous quotes containing the words expressing, dates, spoken and/or english:
“You say you are incapable of expressing your thought. How then do you explain the lucidity and brilliance with which you are expressing the thought that you are incapable of thought?”
—Jacques Rivière (1886–1925)
“Dates are stupidly annoying—what we want is not dates but taste;Myet we are uncomfortable without them.”
—Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918)
“Were you to converse with a king, you ought to be as easy and unembarrassed as with your own valet-de chambre; but yet every look, word, and action should imply the utmost respect.... You must wait till you are spoken to; you must receive, not give, the subject of conversation, and you must even take care that the given subject of such conversation do not lead you into any impropriety.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)
“The English may not like music, but they absolutely love the noise it makes.”
—Thomas Beecham (1879–1961)