[CentOS] time command with options

I am trying to get timing paramters from a CGI program.
date is just a command for example used here.

when I do: time { date; }
everything is good.

when I do: time -o file { date; }
I get
 time -o file { date; }
bash: syntax error near unexpected token `}'

How do I correctly issue the command with an option
for -o file to output the data to a file.

Thanks,

Jerry