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Styles have changed considerably in the last 10 years or so. How you display dates is up to you – and you might choose one style for formal writing and another for less formal documents or online content. Times are usually written without punctuation these days.
Style 1
Using ‘th’ etc. in dates is the traditional style and is still widely used, especially in formal writing. Note the use of commas.
Examples: on 4th January 2019 / by 2nd February 2019 / on Friday, 4th January 2019
When speaking, we add these words: the 4th of January. Do not use them when writing.
Style 2
Omitting ‘th’ etc. in dates is increasingly common.
Examples: on 4 January 2019 / by 2 February 2019 / on Friday, 4 January 2019
All styles
For periods of time, avoid apostrophes and spaces.
Examples: In the 1990s / 2016-2017
Warning: Writing dates as numbers is best avoided because some countries reverse the order. It is acceptable in spreadsheets and tables (although it might be helpful for users to note that your dates are day/month/year).
Examples: 4/1/2019 (in US and Canada: 1/4/2019)
Style 1
A modern style has no full stops, spaces or zeros.
Examples: 9am / 2.45pm
Periods of time – there’s no need to use spaces.
Example: Open: 9am-2pm
Ensure there’s no confusion between 12pm and 12am.
Examples: noon / midnight
Style 2
The 24-hour clock is becoming more widely used – but you need to decide if you want to use punctuation or not.
Example 1: 9:00 / 15:00 / 14:45 / 24:00 / 12:00
Example 2: 0900 / 1500 / 1445 / 2400 / 1200
You are welcome to share this information! All we ask is that you acknowledge us, like this:
By Plain English Ireland, for better business writing: www.plain-english.ie
