title: how to know the format of a date
body: <p>hi i am trying to update my tables consisting of dates i am encountering errors due to white spaces the date fields was given a varchar type by the pass programmer i want to convert my dates to this format <code>mm/dd/yyyy</code> but it seems the date fields are littered with this type of date APRIL 8, 2014 the question is how would i know that the date being updated are in this format sample APRIL 8, 2014? before updating it to proper format e.g mm/dd/yyyy</p>
  
  <p>i have tried this SELECT convert(datetime, date_field, 101) but still it gives error</p>
  
  <p>any suggestions?</p>