English Biz Letters II - Dates

英文ビジネス・レターの書き方 Part II

(Continued from Part I)

Make Use of Simple and Clear Phrases
簡明な表現と丁寧な表現を利用する

When writing English letters, faxes, email, etc., it is best to use clear and concise words and phrases. Avoid using difficult vocabulary or phrases that require you to constantly refer to a dictionary. Former generations were more likely to use formal phrases, business jargon, and hackneyed expressions. These days, however, a more conversational style that is lively and more natural is the preferred style.

英語の 手紙、ﾌｧｯｸｽ、メール等を書く時、簡単でｼﾝﾌﾟﾙな文が良いとされ、辞書を引かなければ分からないような難しい言葉を使うのは、避けたいもの です。分かりやすいな言葉を使う方がずっと良いのです。以前は堅苦しい、商業英語の決まり文句などが用いられていましたが、今では会話的な表現の方が、よ り生き生きとした文章として好まれます。

Writing dates
日時の書き方

Each country has its own way of writing dates. In the U.S., we write dates in the same manner as we speak the date. For example, we say "September fifth, two-thousand five." When writing, the date follows the same pattern.
日付の書き方は国によって違いますが、ｱﾒﾘｶでは、口語英語と同じく、September 5, 2005と書きます。

Be careful about abbreviating dates to numbers however. Writing a date as 9-5-05 or 9/5/05 may be interpreted as September 5th or May 9th depending on who is reading it. In some countries, a date can be abbreviated as 2005/09/05, which might be easier to understand only for some people. One drawback to this style is that it may appear to be a military style of writing the date, which would seem awkward to civilians.

一般に書き順が異なるため、例えば、9-5-05または、9/5/05 と書くと、９月５日なのか５月９日なのか解釈上問題を生じますので、避けるべきです。書き順が「年･月･日」（例：2005/09/05 または 2005-09-05）と書くと、軍隊様式と見られますので、これも避けるべきです。

Let's use these styles:

September 5, 2005
Sept. 5, 2005
Sept. 5th
September 5th

Month Abbreviations:

January...........Jan.
February.........Feb.
March..............Mar.
April.................Apr.
May..................May
June.................Jun.
July...................Jul.
August.............Aug.
September.......Sept.*
October............Oct.
November........Nov.
December.........Dec.

Note: September is abbreviated as Sept. (four letters) not Sep. (three letters)

*September. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004.



How to Use Prepositions with Dates
前置詞の使い方

Please note the following differences when using prepositions in a sentence:
文章に前置詞を使う時、下記のように変化がありますので注意して下さい：

My flight will depart on September 19, 2005, for Los Angeles.

• (Two commas in the date.)

I will depart on September 19, 2005.

• (One comma in the date.)

I will go on vacation in September 2005.

• (No comma in the date.)

My parents will celebrate their 30th anniversary on New Year's Day 2004.

• (No comma in the date.)

My flight departed on the morning of October 17, 1998.**

• (One comma in the date.)

Note: Usually, we say "in the morning" but if followed by a date, it changes to "on the morning of..."
一般に「朝に」は、"in the morning" と "in" を使いますが、ある特定の日の朝または午前を言う場合には、"on the morning of" を使って下さい。
**Kenneth Beare. "Preposition Use. English as a 2nd Language. 2004 About, Inc.
**Dates. The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th Edition, The University of Chicago Press, 2003.
Additional tips regarding the use of prepositions can be found here:

http://anmienglishtools.blogspot.com



Go to Part III


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