LESSON 4

Days  of  the  Week  and  Months  of  the  Year  

I. Days of the Week

Notice that "weekdays" and "days of the week" are not the same:

• "Days of the week" are all 7 days from Monday to Sunday.
• "Weekdays" are only the 5 days from Monday to Friday.
• The "weekend" is Saturday and Sunday.

Day	Abbreviation
Monday	Mon
Tuesday	Tue
Wednesday	Wed
Thursday	Thu
Friday	Fri
Saturday	Sat
Sunday	Sun

Note that the months and days of the week are always capitalised. If you don't want to write the whole words, you can use the abbreviations. In British English, abbreviations are usually written without full stops (Apr), full stops are normal, however, in American English (Apr.)

Origin of the Days of the Week

In ancient Greece, each day of the week was to honour a certain god. Romans took over the custom, but used the names of their own gods. In English some of the names were replaced by the names of nordic gods.

Try to find out the origin of each day of the week.

1. This day is named after the sun. - Sunday
2. This day is named after the moon. - Monday
3. This day is named after Saturn. - Saturday
4. This day is named after Freya, the Teutonic goddess of love and beauty. - Friday
5. This day is named after Thor, the Norse god of thunder. - Thursday
6. This day is named after Tiu, the English / Germanic god of war and the sky. - Tuesday
7. This day is named after Woden, the chief Anglo-Saxon / Teutonic god. - Wednesday

II. Months

Months are abbreviated as follows:

Month	Abbreviation	Month	Abbreviation
January	Jan	July	-
February	Feb	August	Aug
March	Mar	September	Sept
April	Apr	October	Oct
May	-	November	Nov
June	-	December	Dec

Origin of the Months of the Year

Our calendar today originated in Roman times. This can still be seen in the names of the months that are Latin words or named after Roman gods. Try to find out the origin of each month.

1. This month is named after the Roman emperor Julius Caesar. - July
2. This month is named after the Roman war god Mars. - March
3. Before Julius Caesar decided that the year should begin in January (not March), this had been the seventh month of the year (The Latin word for seven is septem). - September
4. This used to be the tenth month of the year. (The Latin word for ten is decem.) - December
5. This month is named after the Roman god Janus - January
6. This used to be the eighth month of the year (eight = octo). - October
7. The name of this month stands for the opening of the buds in spring. (to open = aperire) - April
8. This month is named after the Roman emperor Augustus - August
9. This month is named after the Roman mother goddess Maia. - May
10. This month is named after the Roman festival of Februa. - February
11. In the old Roman calendar this used to be the ninth month (nine = novem). - November
12. This month is named after the Roman goddess Juno, Jupiter's wife. - June

Dates in Spoken English

If you put the day before the month, use the definite article before the day and the preposition of before the month.

5 October 2004 - the fifth of October, two thousand and four

If you put the month before the day, use the definite article before the day in British English. In American English, the definite article can be dropped.

October 5, 2004 - October (the) fifth, two thousand and four