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In my company we use ordinals in dates, example May 4th 2011. Would there be a comma after the 4th in the date like there is if it was May 4, 2011? I know that oridinals in dates is not encourage, but the client specs require us to put the dates as they dictate them. Recently my QA person marked me off for not putting a comma (I believe there should not be one) and I cannot verify this anywhere on the web. I'd appreciate it if someone can help clear this up for me and if possible provide the web site link to it. Thanks.
Not sure if this will help as proof, but Microsoft Word has instructions on how to automatically insert the date using ordinals. The examples they provide all have the comma.
“The following are examples of dates in ordinal form (ordinal numbers indicate the order in an ordered sequence):”
23rd day of February, 1994
March 21st, 1994
Tuesday the 15th, 1994
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=160988
Also, although the AHDI Book of Style 3 states specifically NOT to use ordinals, in all of their examples of what not to do, they include the comma.
10.3.5 Dates
When the month, day, and year are given in this sequence, set off the year by commas. Do not use ordinals.
EXAMPLE:
She was admitted on December 14, 2001, and discharged on January 4, 2002.
not:
…January 4th, 2002 (4th is an ordinal)
Hope this helps some.