Proper use of st, nd, rd, and th — ordinal indicators

I prefer August 1st, but I have seen the other use. I can't cite any authority.

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Generally, ordinals are <i>not</i> used with day of the month (Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Ed., 9:32). When writing just the day of the month, generally, the day is spelled out; otherwise, use cardinal numbers:

My birthday is August 26.

We are flying to Florida next month, on the fifteenth.

In your example, "the August 1 card" is more correct—in both Canada and the US.

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In British (written) English I'd say that "real people" almost always write ordinals after numerals where the month is written in full e.g.

20 August (possible but unlikely)
August 20 (never used in my experience)

but -

20th August
August 20th

- Either would be fine. As would -

August the 20th
(common in speech, less common to see it written down but it does get used)

...the 20th of August
(less common, but used casually e.g. in a sentence e.g."I met my wife on the 20th of August" etc)

Ordinals might be used or not used with an abbreviation of the month e,g,

Sat Aug 20 (maybe less likely),
Sat Aug 20th (maybe more likely)
20 Aug (maybe more unlikely)
20th Aug (maybe more likely)

About the only time in the UK I have seen something like "August 20" written is in advertising (posters, leaflets etc) and similar material (political handouts, flyers promoting a ballot, and so on). It frankly jars the eye and looks a bit sloppy, like the person was in too much of a rush or couldn't be bothered to write the date properly, but I think a lot of advertising people like to follow the American models in the hope of their material seeming more dynamic. Or perhaps they just don't know any better.

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In British (written) English I'd say that "real people" almost always write ordinals after numerals where the month is written in full e.g.

20 August (possible but unlikely)
August 20 (never used in my experience)

but -

20th August
August 20th

- Either would be fine. As would -

August the 20th
(common in speech, less common to see it written down but it does get used)

...the 20th of August
(less common, but used casually e.g. in a sentence e.g."I met my wife on the 20th of August" etc)

Ordinals might be used or not used with an abbreviation of the month e,g,

Sat Aug 20 (maybe less likely),
Sat Aug 20th (maybe more likely)
20 Aug (maybe more unlikely)
20th Aug (maybe more likely)

About the only time in the UK I have seen something like "August 20" written is in advertising (posters, leaflets etc) and similar material (political handouts, flyers promoting a ballot, and so on). It frankly jars the eye and looks a bit sloppy, like the person was in too much of a rush or couldn't be bothered to write the date properly, but I think a lot of advertising people like to follow the American models in the hope of their material seeming more dynamic. Or perhaps they just don't know any better.

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In the example, the date is an adjective describing which "card." Using the ordinal would be the most correct, I think, but it's optional if you're not trying to be formal. I'd have no problem if the community discussing such cards decided to collectively drop the ordinals for simplicity.

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I fix the problem by writing it in the military fashion ... 01 Aug!

The rule of thumb is not to write out the ordinal after the month ... It's one that I ignore if I'm not writing the year. I write August 1st. If I add the year, then I drop the 'st' ... August 1, 2011.

This is not a biggie ... Do it the way you want!

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The Associated Press, Chicago Manuel of Style and Modern Language Association all encourage using the number only instead of the ordinal. So:

May 1 (U.S.)
or
1 May (Europe)

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Never mind whether one uses ordinal or cardinal numbers in dates. To my ears, "September 11th" sounds daft, implying as it does that there have been ten previous Septembers (cf. Henry VIII, Pope Benedict XVI). "11th September" is clearly an abbreviated form of "11th day of September" and thus makes more sense.

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"August 20" always jars my British eye and I am likely to read it as "August twenty" before realising it means the twentieth of August. August 20th and 20th (of) August are both correct in British English, but less so in American English, it seems.

On a related note, it always seems strange to me that 9/11 has caught on in Britain for the WTC attack, but there you go.

Personally, I think it would be easier if we all used the ISO date format YYYY/MM/DD in all written and spoken English, e.g. 2011/09/20. This would at least have the advantage of putting computer files with the date in the file-name in the correct date and alphabetical order.

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Please give me the reason as to why writing the date as( example) May 23rd, 2012 is incorrect.I know that some people say that it is an error, but give no reason as to why it is. Couldn't it just be considered stylistic preference to add the rd, th or nd.

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