What kind of word is a date?

Question

Hi - would a date, like 1985, be a noun? If not, in which word class does it sit?Thanks for your help!

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

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Hello, VC and welcome to English Forums.

Yes, years are nouns:

1985 was a very good year (Subject)
I was born in 1918 (Object of preposition)
I didn't like 2005 at all. (Object of verb)

Avangi · Answer

Hi, welcome to the forums.

Never heard that question before! If it's not a noun, I can't imagine what else it could be. It can be the subject of a sentence: "1950 was a very good year!"

Best wishes, - A.

Anonymous · Answer

I submit that a written date or year is actually modifying an implied noun. Is it possible that 1950 modifies the implied noun of 'year'? The year 1950 was a very good year! Would the same be true of a date?

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousI submit that a written date or year is actually modifying an implied noun. Is it possible that 1950 modifies the implied noun of 'year'? The year 1950 was a very good year! ...

If that's true, then we'd have to say that Jupiter modifies planet in Jupiter has 32 moons (because of The planet Jupiter has 32 moons).
And that coffee modifies beverage in Coffee contains caffeine (because of The beverage coffee contains caffeine).
And that blue modifies color in The artist obviously likes blue (because of The artist obviously likes the color blue).
I don't think we want to go down this path, finding a category name for every noun and claiming that the explicitly stated noun implicitly modifies the unstated category name. I can't imagine where it would all end!

CJ

What kind of word is a date?

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