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Basic Dates

The document provides guidelines on how to express and write dates in English, highlighting the differences between American and British formats. It includes instructions on asking and answering questions about dates and days of the week, as well as the use of ordinal numbers. Additionally, it explains how to pronounce years and centuries, and the historical context of B.C. and A.D.

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marY MCH
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2 views

Basic Dates

The document provides guidelines on how to express and write dates in English, highlighting the differences between American and British formats. It includes instructions on asking and answering questions about dates and days of the week, as well as the use of ordinal numbers. Additionally, it explains how to pronounce years and centuries, and the historical context of B.C. and A.D.

Uploaded by

marY MCH
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Write the questions

I am from Poland

She is from Greece

We are From Russia.

_________________________________________________________________________----

His aunt is from Italy

Their Uncle is from Germany


Do you work in an office?

What do you do? What is your occupation?


Are you taking any medication at the moment?
American vs British English
difference
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,

09.25.2019 – September 25, 2019


While in British English the same date is,

25.09.2019 – 25th September, 2019


So be careful when you write a date as numbers as above.
Depending who you’re writing to, you may need to write the
month to be clear.

When you make an arrangement in English – such as a meeting


at work or a hotel reservation – getting the date right is really
important.

How to read and


write dates in English
17 Nov 2019
An important part of studying English is to learn
how to say, write and understand dates. So let’s
look at the different things you need to know to
help you get ready to use dates in English!

How to ask which day of the


week
If you want to ask what day of the week it is, say:

What day is it today? or What’s the day today?


What day is it tomorrow? or What’s the day tomorrow?
To answer these questions you can say,

It’s Monday today. or Today is Monday.


It’s Tuesday tomorrow. or Tomorrow is Tuesday.

How to ask the date


If you want to ask what the date is, you can say:

What’s the date today? or What’s today’s date?


What’s the date tomorrow? or What’s tomorrow’s date?

You can answer by saying:

It’s 27th September. / Today is 27th September.


Tomorrow is September 28th.

How to say the date


When we say dates in English we use ordinal numbers. So for 1
January, we don’t say the cardinal number ‘one’ but we say
‘first’. And we say ‘the’ before the number followed by ‘of’. For
example,

It’s the first of January.


It’s also possible to invert the month and day. For example,

It’s January first.


In this case you don’t need to say ‘the’ and ‘of’.

Ordinal numbers
Here are the ordinal numbers that you need to use:
From 13 to 19 we continue to add -th to create the ordinal
numbers (thirteenth, fourteenth, etc.)

While from 21 to 31 the ordinal numbers end according to the


ending of the second number. For example,

21 – twenty-first

22 – twenty-second

23 – twenty-third

24 – twenty-fourth

How to write the date


When we write a date we don’t need to add ‘the’ and ‘of’ as we
do when we speak. For example:

It’s the first of January – speaking


It’s 1st January – writing
As you can see, you don’t need to write the number but we
usually add the last two letters of the ordinal number. For
example:

First – 1st

Second – 2nd

Third – 3rd

Fourth – 4th

How to say the year


There are two ways to say the year in English. Until the year
2000, every year was pronounced as two numbers. For example,

1485 – fourteen eighty-five


1750 – seventeen fifty
1900 – nineteen hundred
For the first years of previous centuries, we add ‘0’. For
example:

1801 – eighteen o one


While for the first ten years of the 21st century, we use the word
‘thousand’. For example:

2000 – two thousand


2006 – two thousand six
From the year 2010 onwards you can say two numbers again.
For example,

2012 – twenty twelve


However, some people continue to use ‘thousand’ and say:

2012 – two thousand twelve

Centuries
When we refer to a century in English, we use ordinal numbers.
For example,

1800-1900 = the nineteenth century


1900-2000 = the twentieth century
And centuries are divided into ten decades. A decade is a period
of ten years.

Historical dates
When you talk about a year in the distant past, you can use B.C.
and A.D. The letters B.C. mean ‘before Christ’. For example,

The first Olympic Games were in 776 B.C.


A.D. means ‘Anno Domini’ – the year of the Lord, marking the
birth of Christ. 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.

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