|
Is It Fourth of July or 4th of July?
|
|
As Independence Day approaches, many of you may be wondering how to write the name of the holiday—is it Fourth of July or 4th of July?
The Chicago Manual of Style refers to the holiday as "the Fourth of July" or "the Fourth." The Associated Press Stylebook lists "Fourth of July" and "July Fourth" as acceptable in formal writing.
When expressing the date rather than the holiday, writing either July 4 or the 4th of July is acceptable. When writing a complete date in a sentence, use a comma to separate the day of the month from the year, and—what most people often forget—always put one after the year as well.
Example
On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence. |
You can find more information about writing dates in our post Writing Dates and Times.
Should We Always Capitalize Independence Day?
Independence Day is synonymous with the holiday expressions the Fourth, Fourth of July, and July Fourth. As a holiday, Independence Day is a proper noun that should always be capitalized.
We would not capitalize the phrase if we are using it as a common reference to freedom not related to the United States' declaration of national independence.
Example
My independence day takes place the day my rookie contract expires and releases me into the possibilities of baseball free agency. |
|
View and comment on this
article on our website.
|
|
|
|
 |
The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation
by Lester Kaufman and Jane Straus |
The Authority on English Grammar! Twelfth Edition Now Available
An indispensable tool for busy professionals, teachers, students, homeschool families, editors, writers, and proofreaders.
Available in print AND as an e-Book! Over 2,000 copies are purchased every month!
To order the book, simply click the link to order the book from the GrammarBook.com website.
|
Get Even More Useful Grammar Tips
In addition to our weekly newsletter, we post new entries about American English grammar. The following is our most recent article. Bookmark our GrammarBook blog and be sure to check it often.
What Are Simple Subjects?
|
Free BONUS Quiz for You!
[[firstname]], because you are a subscriber to the newsletter, you get access to one of the Subscribers-Only Quizzes. Click here to take a Spelling Quiz and get your scores and explanations instantly!
We will be adding many more quizzes this year to our already substantial list of them. If you have suggestions for topics we have not yet covered, please send us a message at help@grammarbook.com.
|
Hundreds of Additional Quizzes
at Your Fingertips
Subscribe now to receive hundreds of additional English usage quizzes not found anywhere else!
Teachers and Employers
Save hours of valuable time! You may assign quizzes to your students and employees and have their scores tallied, organized, and reported to you! Let GrammarBook.com take the hassle out of teaching English!
"Fun to test my skills."
"The explanations really help ... thanks!"
"I can select the quizzes to assign to my students, and then the results are reported to me automatically!"
99¢
QUIZZES
|
Don't need all the quizzes?
You can now purchase the same quizzes individually for ONLY 99¢ each.
Purchase yours here.
|
If you think you have found an error in a quiz, please email us at help@grammarbook.com
|
Wordplay
|
 |
English In A Snap:
68 One-Minute English Usage Videos FREE |
Learn all about who and whom, affect and effect, subjects and verbs, adjectives and adverbs, commas, semicolons, quotation marks, and much more by just sitting back and enjoying these easy-to-follow lessons. Share them with your colleagues (and boss), children, teachers, and friends as well! Click here to watch.
|
|
