Expressing a date and time is a matter of style, whether dictated by a style guide or simply your personal style. There are thus scores of acceptable ways to phrase your meeting request, mixing words and numerals, abbreviations, formatting of the time, and so on. Indeed, there are dozens of permutations possible just on the time alone— adding padding zeroes, dropping zeroes on the hours, or whether to write a.m./p.m. in small-caps, uppercase, lowercase, with and without periods, and with and without a preceding space.

There are some regional or cultural considerations. As you note, 24-hour time is wholly absent in American usage (known as military time, and used only in a handful of industries). But on the whole, I would say communication between colleagues favors brevity and accuracy over formality. Thus, when e-mailing a co-worker, I might simply ask

Are you available at 2 on the 28th?

If there is any ambiguity as to which 2 or which 24th I intend, I would need to indicate additional details:

Are you available to meet at 2pm Mountain on Wednesday the 28th?

Are you available to meet on Wednesday, May 28 at 2 p.m. PDT?

I rarely, if ever, use o'clock or fractional hours in business writing, as it is both quicker to write and more quickly comprehended with numerals: 7:00 am, 7:30 pm. But it is also the case that Americans always reference direction to the hour, whether in speech or writing: quarter till 5, half past 10, 20 after 8, 10 of 6— too cumbersome for me to write. In British English, where one can say half seven and be understood, that usage might be more common.


Across style guides, years, days of the month, hours, and minutes are almost never spelled out.

The service will launch on Sunday, August 31, 2014 at 6:00 p.m. Denver time.

They are meeting with the vendor on the 4th of March at 12 noon.

We cordially invite you to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Joe's Restaurant on Monday, the 12th of May at 4 o'clock p.m.

Now, you can choose a longer form in order to draw attention to that component, to highlight something unusual or remarkable about it. For example,

She has been working since 5 in the morning

highlights how early she began working, or how long she has been working, whereas

She has been working since 5:00 a.m.

is more strictly factual.

The entire date and time is spelled out only in extremely formal and/or traditional communications:

As a mark of respect for the memory of Neil Armstrong, I hereby order, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, that on the day of his interment, the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff…. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-seventh day of August, in the year of our Lord two thousand twelve, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-seventh.

Dr. and Mrs. Jonathan A. Doe request the pleasure of your company at the marriage of their daughter Jane Alice to Lieutenant Commander Frederick John Bloggs, son of The Honourable Mary Q. and Mr. Joseph Bloggs, Saturday, the fourteenth of June, two thousand fourteen at half after eleven in the morning, Anytown Country Club, Anytown.

Answer from choster on Stack Exchange
Top answer
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3

Expressing a date and time is a matter of style, whether dictated by a style guide or simply your personal style. There are thus scores of acceptable ways to phrase your meeting request, mixing words and numerals, abbreviations, formatting of the time, and so on. Indeed, there are dozens of permutations possible just on the time alone— adding padding zeroes, dropping zeroes on the hours, or whether to write a.m./p.m. in small-caps, uppercase, lowercase, with and without periods, and with and without a preceding space.

There are some regional or cultural considerations. As you note, 24-hour time is wholly absent in American usage (known as military time, and used only in a handful of industries). But on the whole, I would say communication between colleagues favors brevity and accuracy over formality. Thus, when e-mailing a co-worker, I might simply ask

Are you available at 2 on the 28th?

If there is any ambiguity as to which 2 or which 24th I intend, I would need to indicate additional details:

Are you available to meet at 2pm Mountain on Wednesday the 28th?

Are you available to meet on Wednesday, May 28 at 2 p.m. PDT?

I rarely, if ever, use o'clock or fractional hours in business writing, as it is both quicker to write and more quickly comprehended with numerals: 7:00 am, 7:30 pm. But it is also the case that Americans always reference direction to the hour, whether in speech or writing: quarter till 5, half past 10, 20 after 8, 10 of 6— too cumbersome for me to write. In British English, where one can say half seven and be understood, that usage might be more common.


Across style guides, years, days of the month, hours, and minutes are almost never spelled out.

The service will launch on Sunday, August 31, 2014 at 6:00 p.m. Denver time.

They are meeting with the vendor on the 4th of March at 12 noon.

We cordially invite you to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Joe's Restaurant on Monday, the 12th of May at 4 o'clock p.m.

Now, you can choose a longer form in order to draw attention to that component, to highlight something unusual or remarkable about it. For example,

She has been working since 5 in the morning

highlights how early she began working, or how long she has been working, whereas

She has been working since 5:00 a.m.

is more strictly factual.

The entire date and time is spelled out only in extremely formal and/or traditional communications:

As a mark of respect for the memory of Neil Armstrong, I hereby order, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, that on the day of his interment, the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff…. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-seventh day of August, in the year of our Lord two thousand twelve, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-seventh.

Dr. and Mrs. Jonathan A. Doe request the pleasure of your company at the marriage of their daughter Jane Alice to Lieutenant Commander Frederick John Bloggs, son of The Honourable Mary Q. and Mr. Joseph Bloggs, Saturday, the fourteenth of June, two thousand fourteen at half after eleven in the morning, Anytown Country Club, Anytown.

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1

I (in the US) would write it as “Could we meet on Wednesday, May 28, at 2:00 PM?” Month-day order, and numeric times.

However, for a formal event like a wedding or graduation, write “Wednesday, the twenty-eighth day of May, two thousand (and) fourteen, at two o'clock in the afternoon”.

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Universiteit Twente
utwente.nl › services › ces › utlc › translations & editing services › ut english style guide › numbers
Dates and times | Numbers | Home UTLC
In general, dates and time spans precede the expression they qualify: ... Use the 24-hour system with a colon (or 12-hour system with a full stop, adding a.m. and p.m.): ... EXAMPLE: 5.30 p.m. ... EXAMPLE: 12:00 (midday), 14:00, 24:00 (midnight). When using the 12-hour system, leave out .00 ...
Discussions

The correct way to sign Day of the week, date of the month and time of your writing ?
I am partial to the DMY format, i.e. 18 May 2024, or you can do Saturday, 18 May 2024. This is a common format in many countries, but for personal use you are free to use whatever format you like. There is no universal correct way to do it. More on reddit.com
🌐 r/Journaling
15
13
May 18, 2024
Reddit - The heart of the internet
Reddit is where millions of people gather for conversations about the things they care about, in over 100,000 subreddit communities. More on reddit.com
🌐 reddit.com
2 days ago
What's the proper order of date, time and address?
In writing I usually put time then date, and would probably put the room no after (“at 5:00 p.m. on August 20, 2018 in room XYZ”), but on an invitation I think it makes more sense to have the date first, with the rest of the information following the date. I receive an invitation, the first thing I look to see is if I’m available on that date, and only if the answer to whether I’m available is yes would I proceed further. More on reddit.com
🌐 r/grammar
3
5
August 16, 2018
How do Americans write dates?
mm/dd/yyyy is standard everywhere I've been other than the military. More on reddit.com
🌐 r/AskAnAmerican
95
28
September 11, 2018
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IDP IELTS
ielts.idp.com › idp ielts › prepare for ielts › how to write the date correctly
Correct date format | How to write the date in English | IDP IELTS
June 28, 2021 - A general rule: the more complicated the style of date, the more formal it is. In British English, which is the type of English mainly used in Australia, the day is followed by the month, which is then followed by the year.
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Boston University
bu.edu › brand › guidelines › editorial-style › dates-and-times
Dates and Times | Brand Guidelines
Use numerals for the date and time of day and do not use ordinal numbers in dates. April 1, 2006, was the day…. (not April 1st, 2006) On Monday, September 2, the professor…. You are invited…on March 15, 2022, at 3 pm. When using only a month and year, do not use a comma to separate them: ...
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Grammarly
grammarly.com › blog › writing-tips › how-to-write-dates
How to Write Dates Correctly in English
July 1, 2023 - This may feel counterintuitive because we normally use ordinal numbers when we “speak” of dates. For example, one would say, “January first two thousand seventeen,” but they would write “January 1, 2017.” · The following example is correct in both American and British English:
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Style Manual
stylemanual.gov.au › grammar-punctuation-and-conventions › numbers-and-measurements › dates-and-time
Dates and time | Style Manual
In these cases, it is better to write time of day as T1915 (basic format) or 19:15 (extended format). Note: The format for local time of day doesn’t allow for daylight saving. The format showing daylight saving includes the time shift between local time and Coordinated Universal Time. This is beyond the scope of the Style Manual. 153020 [Local time of day, basic format – 15h 30m 20s, that is 20 seconds after 3:30 pm] ... Combine date and local time of day using the style standards set out above.
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Grammar Book
grammarbook.com › home › numbers › writing dates and times
Writing Dates and Times - The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation
May 2, 2021 - It seems to me that a date (whether whole or partial) is like any other word: “May 30, 2012”. We don’t put commas after other words — it seems wrong to write: “I went to the basketball game, at the Veteran’s Hall.” · A comma, after all, is punctuation. Why should we punctuate something that is continuous? ... The Chicago Manual of Style (6.45) says, “In the month-day-year style of dates, commas must be used to set off the year. In the day-month-year system—useful in material that requires many full dates (and standard in British English)—no commas are needed.
Find elsewhere
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Cambridge Dictionary
dictionary.cambridge.org › grammar › british-grammar › dates
Dates - Grammar - Cambridge Dictionary
3 weeks ago - We write the date in English in different ways. The most common way in British English is to write the day of the month first, then the month (starting with a capital letter) and then the year:
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ProWritingAid
prowritingaid.com › how-to-write-the-date
How to Write the Date Correctly
May 31, 2022 - Let’s look at a few examples of how to write the month and year. ... Her baby is due in June 2022. In June 2022, she will have her baby. When writing dates with the day of the week, always place a comma between the day of the week and the rest of the date. Then, follow the above rules for the rest of the date. This is one type of date format where the comma rule is the same for British English: you always put a comma after the day of the week.
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Google
developers.google.com › style › dates and times
Dates and times | Google developer documentation style guide | Google for Developers
Additionally, if you have a choice ... from the month. ... If you must express a date and a time together, then mention the date first and then the time....
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Office for National Statistics
service-manual.ons.gov.uk › content › numbers › dates-and-time
Dates and time – Content style guide – Service manual – Office for National Statistics
Use the format “[Date] [Month] [Year]” (depending on what information you have) written out with no commas. If the day of the week is relevant, then put it before the date. Do not include “st”, “nd”, “rd” and “th” after the date.
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Daily Writing Tips
dailywritingtips.com › home › punctuation › how to punctuate references to dates and times
How to Punctuate References to Dates and Times - DAILY WRITING TIPS
August 30, 2011 - A comma should follow the time range if the sentence continues: “The meeting is scheduled for August 31, 7-9 p.m., and will feature a guest speaker.” A reference to day, date, and time requires commas between each pair of elements: “The ...
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Wall Street English
wallstreetenglish.com › blog › how-to-read-and-write-dates-in-english
How to Read and Write Dates in English - Wall Street English
So this year is 2019 A.D. However, it’s only necessary to add A.D. when it is unclear which time period you’re referring to. For example, Romulus Augustulus was the last Roman Emperor from 475-476 A.D. There is a difference in the order of indicating the date and the month between American and British English. In American English it’s common to put the month first followed by the date. For example, ... So be careful when you write a date as numbers as above.
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Western Michigan University
wmich.edu › writing › rules › times
Times | Writing Style Guide | Western Michigan University
When listing a beginning and ending time separated only by the word "to," or when listing a series of times when all times listed are a.m. or p.m., use a.m. or p.m. only once, following the final time listed. Use: The meeting will be held from 8 to 11 a.m. Not: The meeting will be held from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. Use: Sessions begin at 8:30, 9:30 and 10:30 a.m. Not: Sessions begin at 8:30 a.m., 9:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. References to midnight can cause confusion. Is midnight Friday at the beginning or at the end of Friday? That’s why insurance policies usually take effect at 12:01 a.m.
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British Council
takeielts.britishcouncil.org › blog › how-to-write-the-date-in-english
How to Write the Date in English for IELTS: A Guide
In the IELTS test, you can use informal ways to refer to dates: ... These are also completely acceptable and natural in spoken English. Practice using them so you sound more fluent and confident. ‘I saw Tina the day before yesterday and she told me she’d be here.’ · ‘We’ll set the meeting up a week from tomorrow, does that work for you?’ · ‘See you in two weeks’time.
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Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Date_and_time_notation_in_the_United_States
Date and time notation in the United States - Wikipedia
1 day ago - This format uses DDHHMMZMONYY, with DD being the two-digit day, HHMM being the time on a 24-hour clock, Z being the timezone code, MON being the three-letter month, and YY being the two-digit year. For example, 041200ZFEB23 is noon, UTC, on 4 Feb 2023. The military date notation is similar ...
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Preply
preply.com › preply language learning hub › learn english online › english writing › how to write the date in english: tips and techniques
How to write the date in English: Tips and techniques
September 24, 2023 - To write the date correctly, use the format ‘Month Day, Year’ for American English, such as ‘October 5, 2023’. For British English, the format is ‘Day Month Year’, like ‘5 October 2023’. Ensure consistency in the format used ...
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Magoosh
magoosh.com › home › how to write dates in english (british and american)
How to Write Dates in English (British and American) - SpeakUp resources
April 7, 2021 - This format is actually pretty easy to remember, since it has a logical order. The date begins with the shortest length of time (day of the month), then the next shortest (month), and finally the longest (year).
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EnglishClub
englishclub.com › vocabulary › time-date.php
Writing the Date | Learn English
Format A is extremely formal and mainly used on printed items, for example a wedding invitation. The numerical formats may use a full stop (.) or hyphen (-) instead of a slash (/), for example: 14.3.2016 or 03-14-16 · Note that another format exists which writes the date numerically in the order Year-Month-Day, for example: 2016/03/14. This is rare in British or American English and used mainly in very official or technical documents.