Let’s have a look at how you can say the date correctly in your IELTS Speaking test: When you are talking about years, this is how you would say the year correctly in English: Need to boost your score in IELTS Speaking? The first tip for your listening test: Be careful to note word limits. Incorrect: 1945 brought the end of World War II. Check our free online preparation material or attend an IELTS Masterclass near you. We use cookies to make wikiHow great. Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. “i.e.” is a also an abbreviation for the Latin phrase “id est”. They’re is a contraction and is used to shorten “they are”. So January 4, 2005 would simply have the month and day switched around, making it 4 January 2005. Last Updated: May 25, 2020 20/11/2019 or 11/20/2019). Before you decide, think about your audience and what the expectations are for your writing. For example, four → fourth (or 4 → 4th) and two → second (or 2 → 2nd). Let us explain. This change in format is called “endianness,” and it comes from Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift. For tips on how to write a date in a professional letter, such as to a boss or co-worker, keep reading! If you prefer to abbreviate the date, you can use the following style in British English. In American English, if you want to write the date in all-numeric, you will need to use the following style. What is the correct date format in English? If it’s an announcement, invitation, formal letter, or academic writing, you should consider spelling the date out. Please consider making a contribution to wikiHow today. One of the most challenging aspects of writing the date is knowing whether you should use a comma. In block format, everything is aligned to the left margin of the page to create a neat look. In American English, you could use September 6, 2019. For IELTS, you can use both date formats. In American English it is not common to put the -th after the number in written English. You can do this properly in a couple of ways: There are certain rules that can be a bit unclear when it comes to writing the date. However, if you are writing the date in an academic paper or other formal situation, you’ll need to spell out the words. You also want to avoid a purely numerical form for the date (eg. Write the date out in full rather than using any abbreviations. If you're including the recipient's address, or inside address, as you would in a professional semi-formal letter, it goes 2 lines below the date. For IELTS, it doesn’t matter if you use American English spelling, or British English. If your task requires a less formal response (for example a letter to a friend), a shorter date format can be used. Write cardinal numbers (1, 2) rather than ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd). wikiHow is where trusted research and expert knowledge come together. 2015. If you often write formal letters for your job, check if there’s a house style guide you should be following. Whatever the format, in British English, dates are usually written in the order day – month – year, while in American English they are written month – day – year. Understand common IELTS mistakes and how to avoid them. For instance, if your letter were dated 02/23/2019, you would write the date as "February 23, 2019.". Shortening the year is also acceptable, such as in the following: You can also write out the date but shorten the month to save space: If you’re not sure about your IELTS Writing, get in touch with the professionals and get some coaching to increase your IELTS score. It also helps to learn how people around the world write today’s date in numbers. Cover letters for potential jobs or letters of complaint are typically written in block format. For example, you'd write "November 2, 2019" or "2 November, 2019," not "November 2nd, 2019" or "2nd November, 2019. Notice there's no comma. Writing it out in such a way allows the notation to be understood by everyone. You can also shorten numbers in an informal letter. The most commonly used separator in the all-numeric date format is a forward slash (/). In Gulliver’s Travels, there is one political faction committed to breaking their eggs open on the large side and another faction just as committed to breaking their eggs open on the small side. Here are some of the regions that format their date in the Day/Month/Year format: Other places in the world use the big endian form, which seeks to avoid confusion by placing the year first. In a less formal situation, you might use numbers or abbreviations for months. The rest of the world has a different order. wikiHow's Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article is backed by trusted research and meets our high quality standards. In formal American English or British English, you never want to omit the year (eg. If you're omitting that, the next line will be the salutation, including the recipient's courtesy title. % of people told us that this article helped them. Boost your career: Improve your Zoom skills. A general rule: the more complicated the style of date, the more formal it is. Both are acceptable. 20/11/2019 or 11/20/2019). Write your street address on the second line. So if both the Australian and American used this, they would both write the date as 2019-02-03. 24th April, April 24 and 24 April are all correct). Picking the appropriate format for the date on your letter can be a little confusing, but it’s easy once you understand the differences. The comma separating the date from the year is an Americanism that the Europeans do not follow. An official IELTS coach can give you one-on-one feedback on your Speaking. Amid the current public health and economic crises, when the world is shifting dramatically and we are all learning and adapting to changes in daily life, people need wikiHow more than ever. If there is an instruction in the question: “Write no more than two words,” writing more than two words will mean you will receive no marks at all for your answer, even if some of the words are correct. Again, the day comes first, then the month, then the year. Copyright © 2020 LoveToKnow. If an American writes May 3, 1988 as 05/03/1988 but an Italian writes May 3, 1988 as 03/05/1988, who's to know what's what? Keeping your reader in mind is always the best guide. Different parts of the letter are separated by spaces, and there are no indentations. If you live where one format is used and the recipient lives somewhere that the other format is preferred, you can choose which one you'd rather use. If it’s a casual note, you can do whatever feels right. [1] X Research source Cover letters for potential jobs or letters of complaint are typically written in block format. There are a few ways to write the date numerically. Belize and Micronesia also use this format and it is secondary in Canada and the Philippines. How to Write the Month and Day. If an Australian writes February 3, 2019 as 03/02/2019, but an American writes the same date as 02/03/2019, who’s right? Presented by an IELTS expert, the free IELTS Masterclass will help you improve your English skills in IELTS writing, reading and speaking. Much of Asia uses this form when writing the date. Also, the first letter of the month isn't capitalized. If you’re using a professional letterhead that includes the sender’s address in the header, your date will be written first in your letter. Whichever date format you use, however, make sure to apply it consistently for all dates in your document. When writing an academic paper, you'll want to consult your professor's preferred method of citation. As you’ve seen before, in written English you may write a normal (cardinal) number without the “th” or “st” etc. Read more here. There are further many types of resignation letter. The date above, for example, denotes the 10th of July 2020. Notice, however, that the ISO standard uses hyphens (-). Please consider making a contribution to wikiHow today.