Glossary entry

English term or phrase:

How to write dates

English answer:

March 1-15

Added to glossary by Jeannie Graham
Mar 4, 2003 12:58
21 yrs ago
11 viewers *
English term

How to write dates

English Other
For example, I have to write that a store offers discounts from March 1st through March 15th. What is the proper way of writing it? Would it be wrong to write March 1-15? Please advise.

Also, is it March 1 _THROUGH_ 15, or March 1 _TO_ 15, or maybe _TILL_?

Thank you.

Discussion

Non-ProZ.com Mar 4, 2003:
Dear Mary, it is more of a a general question, so I'm interested in any variants...
Mary Worby Mar 4, 2003:
What is your target audience? This would be different for UK and US ...

Responses

+5
2 mins
Selected

March 1-15

is fine
I think "through" is used more in US English
Peer comment(s):

neutral Mary Worby : Wouldn't we be more likely to say 1-15 March in the UK? ;-)
2 mins
Also ok - I think both are acceptable in UK
agree EDLING (X) : "through" is US English; "to" is BrEnglish
3 mins
agree Pratik Dholakia : if you wrote "March 1st to 15th" is the better one
1 hr
agree zebung : also agree with Pratik.
1 hr
agree Andy Watkinson : Just to mention that US "through" is inclusive, while "to" requires defining - "to 15 inclusive".
1 hr
agree Antonio Camangi
5 hrs
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you very much for your kind help and your comments, everyone. "
+1
1 hr

Discounts will be offered from 1 - 15 March

Discounts will be offered from 1 to 15 March
Discounts will be offered from the beginning of March until / to March 15

I think any of these would be OK UK.
'through' definitely US
Peer comment(s):

agree Nancy Arrowsmith : I would also use from 1-15
6 mins
neutral Sam D (X) : In UK English at least, if you spell out "from" you should also spell out "to", rather than using the dash.
9 mins
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+4
1 hr

From 1 to 15 March

"Through" is definitely only US English. Since the terrorist attacks in the US, UK English has adopted the US order of "September 11 attacks" etc, but otherwise it's still much more common to write the number first (and, although you don't ask about this, the UK order would be DD/MM/YYYY i.e. 04.03.2003 rather than the US MM/DD/YYYY order)

HTH
Peer comment(s):

agree Georgios Paraskevopoulos
8 mins
agree Ino66 (X)
1 hr
agree Yelena.
2 hrs
agree J Fox
4 hrs
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+1
2 hrs

Feeling old-fashioned UK answer

I'm beginning to feel a little old-fashioned as it seems that I'm in the minority by still using formats such as: "from 1st March to 5th March" though I'm equally happy with "from March 1st to March 5th"

If I write a date in full I use "1st March 2003" or "March 1st, 2003" probably with equal frequency (though I baffled as to why I need the comma in the latter case).

Overall I think that it's safe to say that in the UK the writing of dates is undergoing change away from this answer, creating a state of flux in which almost anything is possible as long as our preference for "to" over "through" is respected.
Peer comment(s):

agree Kay Fisher (X) : There is definately a change towards 1 March over 1st of March though... (bugs me too)
15 hrs
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4 days

The first 15 days of March

is a different way of expressing it, if, as I understand it, both 1st March and 15th March are inclusive.

HTH
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