An Overview of Dates and Time
In order to write dates and times correctly, you need to learn the basic vocabulary and familiarize yourself with the written conventions of English.
Basic Vocabulary
The days of the week in English are:
- Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday
Months of the year are:
- January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
Note that both days of the week and months of the year start with a capital letter in English.
To indicate the precise date, there are two main options, e.g.: It's July 1st or It's the 1st of July.
Time
![](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ6U4NLxzh18lDGXBW5ZUMOYZHw1P98XyKPRPj-mG_Z7qjqJ5aijA)
When writing about time in English:
- use ... o'clock, e.g.: It's 4 o'clock
- use a.m. for the morning and p.m. between noon and midnight e.g.: It's 3 p.m. (you can also use AM/PM or am/pm).
- Make sure you capitalize the first letter of days and months (e.g.: Monday, January).
- Use in with the morning, the afternoon and the evening
- Write Last night and not Yesterday night.
- Use at with times, e.g.: I will be there at 9 o'clock sharp.