How to Use a Comma in Dates
Commas, periods, quotation marks--it can be hard to remember all of the rules for punctuation, particularly once you are out of school. Fortunately, when it comes to writing out dates, the rules for comma usage are pretty straightforward.
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Instructions
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1
Use a comma to separate numbers. When the day of the month and the year appear side by side, a comma is used to separate them. For example, in "July 21, 2008," a comma separates "21" and "2008."
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2
Use a comma to separate words. When the day of the week and the month appear side by side, a comma is used to separate them: Monday, July 21, 2008.
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3
Use a comma after the date in a sentence. For example, in "On July 21, 2008, the mail arrived later than usual" or "On July 21, the mail arrived later than usual," a comma separates the last element of the date from the rest of the sentence.
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4
Do not use a comma when writing a date in military or European format. For example: 21 July 2008.
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Tips & Warnings
As a general rule, no comma is needed to separate number and word elements of a date from one another.
Consider writing dates in European format to eliminate the use of commas altogether.
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Comments
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myangel
Nov 20, 2008
In Step 3, I can understand the use of the comma after the date because actually the date is used as a noun and is the object of the preposition "on." But what about this example? The November 5, 2008 edition of the morning paper published most of the election results. The date here is used as an adjective. Should there be a comma after 2008? -
myangel
Nov 20, 2008
In Step 3, I can understand the use of the comma after the date because actually the date is used as a noun and is the object of the preposition "on." But what about this example? The November 5, 2008 edition of the morning paper published most of the election results. The date here is used as an adjective. Should there be a comma after 2008?
