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AP STYLE: Dates, Months, Years, Ranges of Dates

Dates using Arabic Numerals, no Textual Augmentation

Dates should use numerals, standard Arabic numbers, not augmented by -th, -rd, -nd.

Months in Regular Text (Not in Tables)

Months are spelled out when used by themselves.

Months also are capitalized.

It was an unusually warm October last year.

Some months are abbreviated when used with a specific date: Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec. Some with shorter names are still spelled out, even with a particular date: March, April, May, June, July.

Jan. 1
Feb. 1

March 1
April 1
May 1
June 1
July 1

Aug. 1
Sept. 1
Oct. 1
Nov. 1
Dec. 1

The Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776.

Months in Tables

In tables, all months get abbreviated to three letters, with no period.

Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec

Years

Current Year

The AP Stylebook calls for dates within the current year to be listed only by month and date, without including the year.

This year's production will begin on Aug. 1.

Future or Past Years

Full dates from past or future years include the year, with a comma after the numeric date.

World War I officially ended on Nov. 11, 1918.

Next year's meeting will take place on March 9, 2024.

Dates listing only a month feature no comma.

February 2025 is the estimated target date for completion.

Ranges of Dates

Ranges of years or centuries use an s without an apostrophe.

The start of the 2020s was scarred by the global pandemic.

Warfare and weaponry in the 1900s became increasingly destructive.

Year Starting Off Sentence

In an exception to the general rule for numbers, years at the beginning of a sentence are denoted with a numeric figure.

2023 has been an unusual year meteorologically.

> AP Stylebook

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Key Words: AP Style, Dates, Months, Years, Editing, Proofreading, Copy Editing, Writing