Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[nawee]

Hello,

What is the convention for writing dates and times in a paragraph?

"The discussion will take place on Sunday, 1 April, 2007, from 13.00-14.00."

1. Do I need "st" after 1?
2. Do I need "from"?
3. Is it better to use "to" instead of (-)?
4. Is it better to say 1pm-2.30pm?

Thank you,

Nawee

[Eric Thompson]

Dear Nawee, 1. no need for the 'st'. 2.&3. If you use 'from', then use 'to'. 4. If you don't use 'from...to', then your example is okay. But only the second 'pm' is really needed, since few events start at 1am. Also, if you use 3 digits in one of the times, you should use 3 digits for the other....Americans generally put the month before the day, and they don't use 24-hour time (US military not included). So, here's how I and most Americans would arrange things: Sunday, April 1, 2007, 1:00 - 2:30pm. OK?

[nawee]

Thank you very much for your explanation, Eric.

Just one last question on this topic. Is it more common to use ( to separate between the hour and the minute? Is it acceptable to use (.)?

Thank you,

Nawee

[Eric Thompson]

Dear Nawee, As far as I know, the colon ( is the only punctuation placed between hours and minutes.

[CP]