Changes

Convention requires that the letters be before the year, e.g., ''AD 800''. Usage of "AD" in full dates, e.g., "AD July 4, 1776" or "July 4, AD 1776" is rarely enountered, and calls attention to itself, and on these grounds alone should be eschewed. For most AD-era dates, convention allows you to omit the indication that this is not in the era Before Christ. For three-digit AD-dates, however, there there is a greater tendency to use the form. You can say "the first Council of Nicaea was convened AD 325", and forms such as "the first Council convened in the early 4th century AD" are unexceptionable.  

Convention requires that the letters be before the year, e.g., ''AD 800''. Usage of "AD" in full dates, e.g., "AD July 4, 1776" or "July 4, AD 1776" is rarely enountered, and calls attention to itself, and on these grounds alone should be eschewed. For most AD-era dates, convention allows you to omit the indication that this is not in the era Before Christ. For three-digit AD-dates, however, there there is a greater tendency to use the form. You can say "the first Council of Nicaea was convened AD 325", and forms such as "the first Council convened in the early 4th century AD" are unexceptionable.  

Contrariwise, [[BC]] is an English [[abbreviationism]] meaning "Before Christ" and ALWAYS is the last element. If the context does not otherwise indicate we are in such times, one is obligated to use the form. One can use it with full explicit dates, e.g., "Julius Caesar was killed March 15, 44 BC".

Contrariwise, [[BC]] is an English [[initialism]] meaning "Before Christ" and ALWAYS is the last element. If the context does not otherwise indicate we are in such times, one is obligated to use the form. One can use it with full explicit dates, e.g., "Julius Caesar was killed March 15, 44 BC".