4.7 Dates and time

• Date formats

Within the text: month and date, comma, full year.

○Example

>August 15, 1947

In a table or chart: dd/mm/full year (with slashes).

○Example

>31/01/1900

If only the month and year are used, a comma is not necessary:

○Example

>He came to Chennai in March 1947.

But if only the month and day are used the day/date follows the month:

○Example

>The report was uploaded on December 9 on the ministry’s website.

Date suffixes: Do not use number suffixes (st, nd, rd, th, etc.)

>Say: He came to Chennai on the third of March.

>Or: He came to Chennai on March 3.

>Incorrect: He came to Chennai on March 3rd.

However, if only the date is used in a sentence, the suffix can be used, but ideally without a superscript:

○Example

> She returned to her village on the 19th of that month.

• Time

For time of day, use a.m. and p.m. (lowercase, with two full stops).

But there won’t be a second full stop if the a.m./p.m. occur at the end of a sentence.

○Example

>Correct: But on Fridays, the freedom fighters try to gather at 5.17 p.m. Because "it was on a Friday that the Mahatma was murdered."

>Incorrect: But on Fridays, the freedom fighters try to gather at 5.17 p.m.. Because "it was on a Friday that the Mahatma was murdered."

Decades: never use an apostrophe with decades.

○Example:

>Correct: the 1990s

>Incorrect: mid-1990’s