Abbreviate months of the year

Learning Objectives Identify the standard abbreviation for each of the 12 months of the year. Correctly write the abbreviation for any given month, using a capital letter and a period. Explain that an author's purpose for using abbreviations is often to save space or time. Identify which months (May, June, July) are usually not abbreviated. Apply the rules of abbreviation to write dates in a shortened format. Recognize month abbreviations in real-world texts like calendars and letters. Have you ever seen a calendar with short words like 'Jan.' or 'Dec.'? 🗓️ Why do you think the author didn't write out the full word? Today, we will learn the special short-cuts for writing the months of the year. These short-cuts are called abbreviations. We will...

TermDefinitionExample AbbreviationA shorter way to write a word. It's like a nickname for a word!The abbreviation for the word 'Doctor' is 'Dr.' Author's PurposeThe reason an author decides to write something in a certain way. For abbreviations, the purpose is usually to save space or make something faster to read.An author's purpose for using 'Feb.' on a small calendar is to make the word fit in the little box. Proper NounThe special name of a person, place, or thing. Proper nouns always start with a capital letter.The names of the months, like 'January' and 'February', are proper nouns. Capital LetterThe big letter used at the beginning of a sentence or for a proper noun.In 'Jan.', the 'J' is the capita...

The Capital and Period Rule Start with a capital letter, end with a period. Every time you abbreviate a month, you must begin it with a capital letter (because it's a proper noun) and end it with a period to show it's a shortened word. The Short Month Rule Do not abbreviate May, June, or July. These months have short names already, so the author's purpose of saving space doesn't apply. We always write out the full name for these three months. The Standard Abbreviations Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., Aug., Sep., Oct., Nov., Dec. These are the most common, or standard, ways to abbreviate the other nine months. It's important to learn these so everyone can understand what you write.