![]() ‘At the crack of dawn’ means very early in the morning, just as daylight is breaking.If the time is in the middle of the night, for example 1 am until 3 am, we can say it is ‘in the early hours’. If the time is very early, for example before 6am, we can say ‘early morning’. We can add the phrase ‘in the morning’ to mean a time before noon. We also say ‘in the night’ to mean in the middle of the night in general. If it is late, we normally say ‘at night’, for example ‘it’s ten o’clock at night’ to mean 10 pm. For example ‘in the morning’, ‘in the afternoon’ and ‘in the evening’. We use the preposition ‘in’ for a general time of day. How to talk about the general time of day For example, ‘I am meeting them in two hours’. For example, ‘I am meeting them at two o’clock’.īut we use the word ‘in’ for a less definite amount of time. We normally use the preposition ‘at’ with times for making plans for a specific time. Prepositions for telling the time in English For example, we would say ’17 minutes past 5′ and ’23 minutes past 5′. We would always say the word ‘minutes’ after the o’clock if it is not a multiple of five.’10 to five’, ’20 to five’, 25 past four’) but ‘quarter to’ and ‘quarter past’ when it is 15 minutes, and ‘half past’ when 30 minutes. We only tend to use ‘to’ or ‘past’ with minutes that are multiples of five (e.g.More commonly, we would say ‘five past six’. When it is 5 minutes past the hour, we never say the numbers only (‘six five’) we would have to say ‘six oh five’, using the sound ‘oh’ to represent the zero for 6.05.The fourth clock shows: twenty-five past eight / 8.25 am / 8.25 pm / 20.25 The third clock shows: quarter past twelve / 12.15 am / 12.15 pm / 00.15 The second clock shows: four forty-five / quarter to five / 4.45 am / 4.45 pm or 04.45 / 16:45 Here, the first clock can show: five past ten / ten o five / 10.05 / 22.05 Whichever format you chose when writing the time in English, try to keep it consistent.Įxamples of telling time in English with an analogue clockĬonsider the clock faces on the left. ![]() Sometimes people use nothing at all to separate numbers using the 24 hour clock (1430). Some people use a dot as punctuation to separate the numbers when writing a digital time (2.30 pm), other people use a colon (14:30) – colons are especially popular in 24 hour clock format. ![]() How to separate the numbers when writing the time? This usage is rare in every day speech though and would normally only be used in specialist situations, such as in the military. This is why it is often called ‘military time’. For 0800 we can say ‘oh eight hundred hours’. For example, 14:00 would be ‘fourteen hundred hours’ and midnight would be ‘zero hundred hours’. If we want to read out the time using the 24 hour clock, instead of using ‘o’clock’ we can say ‘hundred hours’. ![]() The last train to depart Milton Keynes Central at 2248 (twenty-two forty-eight, ten forty-eight, 10.48 pm, or twelve minutes to eleven) arrives at Coventry at 2352 (twenty-three fifty-two, eleven fifty-two, 11.52 pm, eight minutes to midnight/twelve). The train that departs from Birmingham International at 1739 (seventeen thirty-nine, five thirty-nine, 5.39 pm, or twenty-one minutes to six) arrives at Birmingham New Street at 1751 (seventeen fifty-one, five fifty-one, 5.51 pm, or nine minutes to six). The first train departs London Euston at 0640 (six forty, twenty to seven, or 6.40 am) and arrives at Watford Junction at 0655 (six fifty-five, five to seven, or 6.55 am) So 11.20 in the morning is 11.20 am (eleven twenty or twenty past eleven) Often we write these shortenings without the full stops in between the letters, so they are often written in common usage as ‘am’ and ‘pm’. Hours after noon are called ‘p.m.’ (pronounced pee-em), which comes from the Lain ‘post meridiem’, which means after midday. Hours before noon are called ‘a.m.’ (pronounced ay-em), which comes from the Lain ‘ante meridiem’, which means before midday. In the 12 hour clock, we need a way to differentiate between morning and evening, so we use the letter ‘am’ and ‘pm’ to show whether 11.20 is in the morning or at night. One lasts from midnight to noon and the second half lasts from noon to midnight. The 12 hour clock splits the day into two 12 hour sections. When we tell the time in English, we can use the 12 hour clock or the 24 hour clock. Quarter to four (3.45) – or three forty-five.Twenty-five to four (3.35) – on BBC radio, the presenters often say ‘five-and-twenty-to’ (or five-and-twenty-past’) instead of twenty-five-to/past.For any minute beyond the half hour, use the word ‘to’ before the next o’clock.
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