The Writing of Dates
- 08/07/60 vs 08.07.60 or 080760, etc.
(Are different expression styles recognizable? Is the date August 7 or July 8?)- "2008-09-15" is the ISO 8601 standard, esp. in technical fields
- 08 July 1960
- July 8, 1960
- (July the 8th, 1960, etc.)
Periods, Commas and Quotation Marks
- 'The boy kicked the ball.' (GB 'inverted commas')
- "The boy kicked the ball." (US "quotation marks")
(cf. Neea Paatero's 'Gatsby' analysis for UK/US punctuation differences)- 'She screamed, "I didn't do it!" and then ran away.' (GB format, quotation within a quotation)
- "She screamed, 'I didn't do it!' and then ran away." (US format, - - - )
- He said, 'I didn't like what they had for dessert'.
(FIN/GB variable procedure for periods & commas in quotations, where the period/comma may be either inside or outside closing quotation marks)- He said, "I didn't like what they had for dessert."
(US fixed standard, where periods & commas are always inside closing quotation marks)Punctuation With Business (Formal) vs Social (Informal) Letters
- Dear Mr Smith, (GB)
- Dear Aunt Sally, (GB)
- Dear Mr. Smith: (US) (note also the GB "Mr" vs the US "Mr.")
- To Whom It May Concern: (US)
- Dear Aunt Sally, (US)
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Last Updated 16 September 2008