Dates

Do not use the endings -st, -nd, -rd or -th with a figure in a date. Note that, in British English, dates are written in the order day–month–year, without internal punctuation.

Exemple adequat16 July 2020


In British English, the numeric form of the date above is, therefore:

Exemple adequat16/07/20


Note that, in American English, dates are written in the order month–day–year, with a comma between the day and the year.

Exemple adequatJuly 16, 2020


In American English, the numeric form of the date above is, therefore:

Exemple adequat07/16/20


  • Days of the week

    Do not use a comma after the day of the week when it precedes a date.

    Exemple adequatMonday 23 November 2021


  • Years

    In running text, use all four digits when referring to a year.

    Exemple no admissible’98

    Exemple adequat1998


  • Academic years

    Write academic years in one of the following two ways, but be consistent. Use a hyphen (-), not an en dash (–).

    Exemple adequatthe academic year 2022-2023

    Exemple adequatthe 2022-2023 academic year


  • Decades

    Use numbers to refer to decades rather than writing them out. Do not add an apostrophe before the plural  s.

    Exemple adequatWe were all born in the mid-1920s.


    To refer to decades in the period from 2000 to 2020, use a circumlocution such as the first decade of the 21st century or the second decade of the 21st century.

  • Centuries

    Do not use Roman numerals for centuries. Instead, either spell out the century or use the ordinal number.

    Exemple no admissiblethe XX century

    Exemple adequatthe twentieth century

    Exemple no admissiblethe XIX century

    Exemple adequatthe 19th century


  • Festivals and historic events

    If a date refers to a festival or historical event, spell out the number.

    Exemple adequatthe Fourth of July celebrations

    Exemple adequatthe Hundred Years’ War

    Exemple adequatthe First of May demonstration


  • Laws

    In citing pieces of legislation, arrange the dates as shown in the examples below.

    Exemple adequatSpanish Personal Data Protection Law 15 of 13 December 1999

    Exemple adequatSpanish Royal Decree 778 of 30 April 1998

    Exemple adequatOrganic Law 4 of 12 April 2007 amended by Organic Law 6 of 21 December 2001 on Universities
Darrera actualització: 14-9-2023
Impressió del capítol | Impressió de la pàgina
Recommended citation:
«Dates» [en línia]. A: Llibre d’estil de la Universitat de Barcelona. Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona. Serveis Lingüístics. <https://www.ub.edu/llibre-estil/criteri.php?id=2381> [consulta: 30 abril 2024].
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