Loading the lesson
Loading the lesson
Search AllRounder.ai
Search the courses, subjects, tracks, games and features, or jump straight to a page.
Search the courses, subjects, tracks, games and features, or jump straight to a page.
Learn it your way
A short class with Sarah and her students. The other ways are under More.
Sign up free to listen. Transcripts are free to read.
After writing the sender's address, what comes next in a formal letter?
The date, just below the address.
Right. In our layout the address is at the top right, so the date also goes on the right. What about a full-block letter?
Everything starts at the left margin, so the date is on the left too.
And on printed letterhead the address is already there, so the date comes just below it, often with the reference number on the same line.
So the position changes with the layout, but the date is never left out.
How would you write the date of a letter sent on the fifteenth of August 2025?
15/08/2025.
In a formal letter, write the month in words: 15th August 2025. Why do you think that matters?
Because an American might read 04/05 as the fifth of April instead of the fourth of May.
Exactly. Words remove the doubt. Americans write the month first, as in August 15, 2025.
And we should use all four digits of the year and the right suffix, like 21st and 22nd.
A supplier asks for payment within 15 days of the date of its letter, dated 8th June 2025. When is the last day?
8 plus 15 is 23, so 23rd June 2025.
Good. Without a date, nobody could work that out. Where else does the date help?
In replies, like 'your letter dated 8th June', and in filing letters in order.
And as evidence: it can prove that a complaint was made while the warranty was still valid.
the date comes just below the sender's address, or below the letterhead on printed stationery.
write the day, the month in words and all four digits of the year, as in 8th June 2025.
all-number dates such as 08/06/2025 are read differently in different countries.
use one style throughout, with correct suffixes and real dates that match the body of the letter.
the date serves reference, filing, counting deadlines and proof.
Day, then month in words, then year, and every reader's date is clear.
A trader wrote 04/05/2025 as the delivery date on an order to an American supplier, meaning 4th May. The supplier read it as April 5 and rushed the goods a month early, at extra cost. After that, the trader always wrote 4th May 2025.
D-M-Y for India, M-D-Y for the USA - put the month in words and neither can go wrong.
R.F.E.D. - Reference, Filing, Evidence, Deadlines: four of the jobs of the date line.
Term
Where is the date written in a formal business letter?
Click to flip
Term
Write 21/03/2025 in the Indian style for a formal letter.
Click to flip
Term
Why should a formal letter avoid all-number dates?
Click to flip
Term
How is 8th June 2025 written in the American style?
Click to flip
Term
Name two uses of the date in business correspondence.
Click to flip
The line of a business letter that shows the date on which it was written.
The Indian and British way of writing a date, as in 8th June 2025.
The American way of writing a date, as in June 8, 2025.
The letters added to a number to show its position, such as st, nd, rd and th.
Stationery with the firm's name, address and contact details printed at the top.
A number given to a letter for filing and for quoting in replies.
A letter layout in which every line, including the date, begins at the left margin.
The date line records the day on which a business letter is written. It sits just below the sender's address, and a clear, complete date is needed for reference, for filing and, at times, as evidence.
Every formal business letter carries a date, written below the sender's address or the letterhead. In India, as in Britain, it is written day first, as in 8th June 2025, while American letters put the month first, as in June 8, 2025. Writing the month in words avoids the confusion of all-number dates such as 08/06/2025, which mean different days in different countries. This lesson explains where the date goes, how to write it correctly and why it matters for replies, filing, deadlines and legal proof.
The date line shows when the letter was written. It is the second element of a formal business letter, coming right after the sender's address. It is never left out, even in a short letter, because the date is the letter's place in time.