How is the date written on the top portion of the memo in the example?

• A. 3 March 1997
• B. March 3, 1997
• C. 1997-03-03
• D. 03/03/1997

Answer: (A)

The date at the top of a formal memo is typically written day-month-year with the month spelled out. This format, “3 March 1997,” keeps the date unambiguous and preserves a formal tone that suits official correspondence.

Using the day first with the month in full prevents confusion that can occur with numeric formats, which can be read differently in different regions (for example, 03/03/1997 might be interpreted as March 3 or March 3 depending on locale) and avoids the punctuation found in some other styles. ISO-like formats (1997-03-03) look precise but are less common in internal memos and can feel overly technical. A month-day-year format with a comma (March 3, 1997) is widely used in letters but not as typical for top-line memo dating in many formal settings.

So, the preferred choice is writing the date as 3 March 1997 because it conveys a clear, formal, and universally unambiguous timestamp for the memo.