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Unit Unit 33

Dates in Spoken English

If you put the day before the month, use the definite article before the day and the preposition of before the month.

5 October 2004 the fifth of October, two thousand and four

If you put the month before the day, use the definite article before the day in British English. In American English, the definite article can be dropped.

October 5, 2004 October (the) fifth, two thousand and four

Dates in Written English 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

ATTENTION!!!

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.Example:

5 Oct 2004 or May 10, 2004

Saying years

From 2000 onwards, years are pronounced like ordinary cardinal numbers. 2000 - two thousand

2003 - two thousand and three Earlier years are pronounced differently: the first two figures are

a number and the last two figures are a number. They can be joined by hundred and, which is only necessary, however, if the last two figures are 00 through 09.

1999 - nineteen (hundred and) ninety-nine1806 - eighteen hundred and six / eighteen oh six

If you want to give the year without an exact date, use the preposition in: I was born in 1972.

To distinguish between dates before and after the birth of Christ, use BC und AD: BC = 'Before Christ'

AD = 'Anno Domini' (=in the year of the Lord)

Months and Days of the Week

The months and days of the week are always capitalised. If you don't want to write the whole words, you can use the abbreviations.

In British English, abbreviations are usually written without full stops (Apr),

full stops are normal, however, in American English (Apr.).

Months are abbreviated as follows:

Month Abbreviation Month Abbreviation

January Jan July -

February Feb August Aug

March Mar September Sep(t)

April Apr October Oct

May - November Nov

June - December Dec

Days of the week are abbreviated as follows:

Day Abbreviation

Monday Mon

Tuesday Tue

Wednesday Wed

Thursday Thu

Friday Fri

Saturday Sat

Sunday Sun

Origin of the Days of the Week

In ancient Greece, each day of the week was to honour a certain god.

Romans took over the custom, but used the names of their own gods.

In English some of the names were replaced by the names of nordic gods.

Try to find out the origin of each day of the week.

This day is named after the sun. _______________ This day is named after the moon. _____________ This day is named after Saturn. _______________ This day is named after Freya, the Teutonic goddess

of love and beauty. ________________ This day is named after Thor, the Norse god of

thunder. ______________ This day is named after Tiu, the English / Germanic

god of war and the sky. _______________ This day is named after Woden, the chief Anglo-

Saxon / Teutonic god. _______________