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This question is about the stylistic differences between certain expressions in American English.

When one has to say a date out loud, there are 4 possibilities in US English.

  1. "Month + ordinal", e.g., "April tenth"
  2. "Month + cardinal", e.g., "April ten"
  3. "Month + the + ordinal", e.g., "April the tenth"
  4. "The+ cardinal + month + ordinal", e.g., "the tenth of April"

I think that the most common in everyday usage is the first one, followed by the second (however, I think the second method is not used with small number, like in "March one" or "October two"; can anyone confirm it?). I believe that the first format is perfectly fine for all occasions, while the second might be a little informal. What about the last two? Are they commonly used in the US? Do they sound more formal?

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There are all of these variants exist. But the form "April the tenth" is the most common, as for me. "April tenth" - people say so, but I hear it rarely. "The tenth of April" - a formal variant. "April ten" - I'd say that it's not commonly used.

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  • Hello, and welcome to the ELU. On this site, more thorough answers are encouraged. See tour. It would be good to provide references for the information your are giving.
    – fev
    Jul 29, 2021 at 20:44
  • Hello, and thank you. It's just examples from my everyday life that I can share. I mostly use American English for work, so I decided to answer here.
    – Irene
    Jul 29, 2021 at 20:59
  • I would say 1 and 4 are commonly heard, while 3 is rare and 2 is almost never used. Ngram tends to support this. Though 2 is probably more common in written English.
    – GArthurBrown
    Jul 30, 2021 at 2:50
  • I am hearing 2 more often these days on radio and TV (in Australia).
    – Peter
    Jul 30, 2021 at 9:34

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