How to Punctuate Dates

Date punctuation is fairly standard across the world with only the order of the components changed. The punctuation in dates is necessary to allow the reader a chance to decode the date and separate the different numbers. Date punctuation is taught to early elementary students and is used throughout their adult life. People often find a punctuation type they feel comfortable with and will stick to that type throughout their writing.

Instructions

1. Place a comma after the day when writing a date out in long form. For example, the comma would come after the number 29 when writing November 29, 2011.

2. Use a forward slash to separate the numbers when using numerical reference for month, day and year. For example, a forward slash would go between 12, 18 and 11 in the date 12/18/11 or December 18, 2011.

3. Change the forward slash to a period or dash between each of the numbers when using numerical references. In the example above, you could change the slashes to periods for 12.18.11 or dashes for 12-18-11.

References

• Executive Ghostwriting Services: How to Properly Punctuate Dates
• Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command; NRaD TD1064 Writing and Editorial Guidelines; July 1994