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Mr Pepperpot
Member Since
August 20, 2011
Total number of comments
2
Total number of votes received
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Proper use of st, nd, rd, and th — ordinal indicators
- August 20, 2011, 2:52pm
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.
Proper use of st, nd, rd, and th — ordinal indicators
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.