A question about dates and rules.

[Citrusandginger]

Help! I went to school in the 70's / 80's so wasn't taught grammar and I'm trying to understand something about writing dates. Can anyone guide me?

I've just written a formal letter including the sentence we sent x on 3rd June and blah blah blah. Miscrosoft has given me a blue underline for this and is suggesting I change it to 3rd of June. In my head that just sounds wrong but I'm willing to be corrected.

So what is them rules and am I right or wrong?

Just 3 June. In a formal, business letter it would be just that.

Yes - I think things have changed since we were st school (we must be a similar age,) because of email and so on.

I'd put 3 June or 3rd June, even though you'd probablysay 3rd of June if you read it out loud.

I frequently argue with Word about this sort of thing, and usually have the grammar checker turned off because it's so annoying.

I write business letters and emails all the time, and would write 3 June.

Microsoft may be using an American format?

Americanism, perhaps?

Word defaults to American English. IIRC you can change to British English in settings, but Americanisms do still slip though. You can tell the checker to ignore them.

Thanks all. I definitely have UK English and not US turned on, so not that. Glad to hear I'm not the only one who frequently disagrees with Microsoft though.

Being really pedantic it's those rules. Not them rules.

I think the m was a typo. It was meant to be the rules. Neither them or those makes as much sense in the context as the would.

I insist on 03 Jun 2023 for any work stuff. We're in a very international industry and that's the shortest unambiguous date format I know.

Ha ha, I was being sarcastic, but I guess that didn't come across .

@Citrusandginger I went to school in the 70s and 80s and I was definitely taught grammar.

I agree. It makes it clear you don't mean 6th March.

Well I was told at work that a big event was going ahead June 24. Turned out, when I'd done all the publicity, it was a date in June next year not 24 June. If the full year had been included it'd have saved a lot of hassle.

Er, isn't 3 Jun 2023 shorter? Ie without the leading zero.

Yes, but 03 shows you've not accidentally forgotten a leading 1 or 2.

Yes, but 03 shows you've not accidentally forgotten a leading 1 or 2.

That makes no sense to me! Why would it show that any more than it could mean that you've accidentally typed a 0 instead of a 1, or just accidentally added a zero? Or typed the 3 and the zero the wrong way around when it was meant to be 30?

Think I disagree with the majority, I would write June 3rd but if you lead with the date, I would add of so 3rd of June

Are you American? Month then day is quite unusual in the UK. I have never seen the date written like this, since starting office work in the early 90s.

Plus one for this one. It is how I was taught in school in the seventies and eighties.