If I understand, you say that on is just used to stress the importance of the date, while 2006 says that dated on indicates the day that the date was printed on a magazine.
From my perspective, 2006 and I agree.
Englishlanguage said:
I'm afraid I really can't grasp the difference between dated and dated on. Is it really just a matter of importance? Is it just a nuance or does it completely change the meaning of the sentence?
It depends on the context. 2006's product example is a case in point. (I'll use yoghurt as the product.) A container of yoghurt is dated twice: one date tells us when the yoghurt was made, the other date tells us when the yoghurt expires. The dates on that container read,
made: 2007/06/27*
expires: 2007/07/03
Ex: The yoghurt dated to expire on 2007/07/03 ... :tick:
Ex: The yoghurt dated 2007/07/03 .... :tick:
Ex: The yoghurt dated on 2007/07/03 .... :cross:
Ex: The yoghurt dated on 2007/06/27. :tick:
Ex: The yoghurt dated 2007/06/27 ... :tick:
Now, with things that don't expire, like letters, things that have just the one date, the word
dated points us to a reference number, whereas the phrase
dated on tells us the date is contextually important:
Ex: In a
letter dated on or about August 7, 1997, Mr. Plisner wrote to Ms. Krohn [on that day or about August 7]and asked for copies of certain data about D. Upon receiving no response,
... [/url=http://www.ipad.state.mn.us/opinions/1997/97047.html]Source[/url]
The author of that sentence could have omitted
on or about and sentence would be as clear as it is now; however, adding
on (
or about) changes the meaning slightly in that it tells us the date that follows is important in some way:
Ex: In a
letter dated August 7, 1997, Mr. Plisner wrote ...
Does that help? :-D
_____________
*
International standard date and time notation