Date line

The date line is used to indicate the date the letter was written. However, if your letter is completed over a number of days, use the date it was finished in the date line.

British English

In British English the day is usually put before the month. If you wish, you can add the ending of the ordinal number. The preposition of before the month is usually dropped. You can put a comma before the year, but this is not common anymore in British English.

Example: 5(th) (of) October(,) 2004

American English

In American English the month is usually put before the day. If you wish, you can put the definite article before the day. It is common to write a comma before the year.

Example: October (the) 5(th), 2004

You can also write the date by using numbers only. The most common forms are:

Example: 5/10/04 or 5-10-04

Note, however, that 5/10/04 usually means 5 October 2004 in British English and May 10, 2004 in American English. To avoid any possible confusion, you should spell out the month or use the abbreviation.

The date can go in one of two places – beneath your address or beneath the reader’s address.

It is always best to write the month in full because the British dating system is different to the American dating system (eg: 8/10/2002 is 8th October 2002 in Britain but August 10th in America).

Note that you do not need to write ‘the’ or ‘of’ in a date (eg: ‘the 16th of October’ October 2004.

British English

Write: 30 October 2003

Position: on the right, one line below the sender's address (in letters with a ready-printed sender's address, the date can also be put in the top left corner)